May 25, 2011
PITTSBURGH - Five members of the 2007-08 Duquesne men's basketball team - the same squad that ended a 13-year streak of sub-.500 seasons with a 17-13 record - are excelling professionally overseas.
Guards Aaron Jackson (Spain), Reggie Jackson (United Kingdom), Kojo Mensah (Venezuela) and forward/centers Shawn James (Israel) and Kieron Achara (Italy) have all either completed, or are in the midst of completing, highly-successful seasons around the globe.
All five played major roles in the turnaround of the DU basketball program in head coach Ron Everhart's second season.
Aaron Jackson has led Bizkaia Bilbao to the final four of the Spanish ACB Playoffs. Bilbao faces Real Madrid in the best-of-five semifinals beginning Thursday, May 26. Jackson, who has played in all 36 games, leads the men in black in scoring (11.4), assists (2.9), steals (1.3) and minutes per game (26.1). He is shooting 48.2 percent from the field, 41.5 percent from 3-point and 84.6 percent from the foul line.
Bilbao, which finished sixth in the 18-team league with a 21-13 record, swept third-place Valencia (24-10) in the best-of-three opening round.
The ACB is widely considered to be the second-best professional league in the world, second only to the NBA.
Shawn James helped Bnei Hasharon (16-11) to a fourth place finish in the Israeli Premier League. James, who just completed his third season with Bnei Hasharon, led the league in rebounding (10.6 rpg.) and blocked shots (3.0 bpg.). He shot 61 percent from the field in averaging 13.0 points per game.
James, who is no longer under contract with Bnei Hasharon is being courted by league power Maccabi Tel-Aviv, the 2010-11 regular season champ with a 26-1 record. Eurobasket.com named James All-Israeli League Centre of the Year in 2009-10.
Reggie Jackson averaged 21.0 ppg. - third in the British Basketball League - after re-joining the New Castle Eagles (24-9) with 18 games left in the season. He finished eighth in the league in assists (4.3 apg.) and third in steals (3.1 spg.). Jackson was so exceptional on defense that he was named to the BBL All-Defensive Team despite not meeting the minimum of 20 games played.
New Castle, which finished second in the BBL in the regular season, was eliminated in the playoff semifinals. Jackson, who had a team-high 28 points in New Castle's final game, was named to the BBL's final "Team of the Week" after posting a 28-point, 14-assist double-double in a playoff quarterfinal win over Guildford.
Kieron Achara has helped Barcellona to the Italian Liga2 semifinals. Achara, who is averaging 9.8 points and 6.6 rebounds per game, had a game-high 14 rebounds in a win over Scafati on May 20 to help Barcellona advance. Barcellona, which finished the regular season in a three-way tie for third in the 16-team league with a 19-11 record faces first-place Fastweb Casale (21-9) on May 26. This is the first season in Barcellona for Achara who played for Serie A-1 Fortitudo Bologna in 2008-09 and Angelico Biella last year.
Kojo Mensah currently leads Panteras De Miranda with 16.6 ppg. scoring average in the Venezuela-LPB. Mensah led the league in steals (3.7 spg.) and was second in assists (5.2 apg.).
