GWU Basketball Standouts Sign To Play Professionally Overseas
August 28, 2006 | Men's Basketball
BOILING SPRINGS - Recent Gardner-Webb standouts Brian Bender,
Tim Jennings and Mike Jones will have their chance to play
professionally, as all three recently inked contracts to play
overseas.
Bender, a two-time All-Atlantic Sun Conference forward, will play
in Poland for Stal Ostrow. The Lawrenceville, Ga., native averaged
13.4 points and 5.8 rebounds per game as a senior for the Bulldogs,
and finished ninth on the all-time scoring list at Gardner-Webb
with 1,371 points. Bender also pulled down 647 career rebounds
(eighth in GWU history) and started 88 consecutive games as a
Runnin' Bulldogs.
Jennings, twice named the Atlantic Sun Conference's Defensive
Player of the Year during his career at Gardner-Webb, will play in
Germany for FC Kaiserslautern in the Second Bundesliga South. The
6-foot-3 guard averaged 11.1 points and 3.8 rebounds per game,
while hawking 49 steals in 29 games played for the 'Dogs last
season. The Conway, S.C., native heated up late in the campaign,
averaging 14.0 ppg in the team's last seven regular season games.
Jennings netted 20 points in last year's season opener at North
Carolina - a narrow 83-80 loss - and hit the game winner at ETSU in
the opening round of the A-Sun Tournament on a lob with 0.9 seconds
remaining. That play was No. 1 on ESPN's Top 10 list that evening
on SportsCenter.
Jones, a 6-foot-7 forward from Atlanta, Ga., was one of the
Bulldogs' top reserves over the past two seasons, and turned an
impressive workout after the season into a chance to play in
Finland's first division with Kauhajoki. He averaged nearly three
points and three rebounds per game in 10 minutes per outing as a
senior for GWU.
"All three guys are more than capable of turning in fine careers in
Europe," said GWU head coach Rick Scruggs. "We're confident they'll
represent themselves and Gardner-Webb University well. We won 35
games over the past two years with these guys forming a great core
for us, and all of our players and staff are really excited for
them to get this chance."
A total of 10 players under Scruggs have gone on to sign
professional contracts internationally, beginning with Rob Turner
(Ireland) in 1996. Gardner-Webb has seen 25 of its former men's
basketball players be drafted or sign with professional teams -
including legends Artis Gilmore (Kentucky/ABA), George Adams (San
Diego/ABA), John Drew (Atlanta/NBA), Dave Bormann (Atlanta/NBA),
Eddie Lee Wilkins (New York/NBA) and Ben Davis (Cleveland/NBA).
Gardner-Webb opens its 2006-2007 season on November 13 in the CBE
Classic against Texas Tech and legendary coach Bob Knight in
Lubbock, Texas.
