July 21, 2002

Derrick Alston, who led the Dukes to their last postseason competition following the 1993-94 season, is playing with the Boston Celtics in the Shaw NBA Summer League at UMass Boston's Clark Athletic Center. Play, which began this past Monday, concludes on Sunday, July 21, 2002.

Derrick has started all four games so far for the 4-0 Celtics, three at center and one at power forward. He's averaging nine points, four rebounds and 0.8 blocks in 25 minutes on the court. He is shooting 51.9 percent (14 of 27) from the floor. One of his teammates is St. Bonaventure's J.R. Bremer.

In the opener against the Nets on July 15th, Alston hit a pair of free throws in the last 32 seconds to help ice the 81-69 victory. He led the team with seven rebounds, three on the offensive boards. And in the Celtics last contest, a 91-73 win Friday over the Spurs, Alston started the third quarter run for Boston with a pair of short jumpers and two free-throws. The Celtics take on Philadelphia tonight at 8 p.m. and conclude their six-game schedule Sunday with a noon matchup against the Hawks.

Derrick Alston is the second most prolific career scorer at Duquesne with 1,903 points, just 60 shy of the 1950s All-American Dick Ricketts. He also ranks fifth all-time with 879 rebounds. He was named to Duquesne's Sports Hall of Fame in 2000.

Alston was taken in the second round by the Philadelphia 76ers in the 1994 draft where he played for two years before being traded to Atlanta prior to the 1997 season.

He has since gone on to play for some of the top teams in Europe, lacing them up for Manresa and Barcelona (Spain), as well as Efes Pilson (Turkey). He played for Pamesa Valencia (Spain) for the last two seasons, averaging 15.3 points and 7.1 boards per game last season in Saporta Cup action.