Coleby, St Fort, Higgs deliver season highs

AN active weekend for Bahamian pro basketball players in their respective leagues across the globe featured several season high performances.

Headlining the list was veteran forward Kadeem Coleby in the Japanese B-League.

Coleby finished with 30 points and 15 rebounds - both season highs - in an 89-86 loss for his Akita Northern Happinets to Hitachi SRT. He shot 11-14 from the field and also added two blocked shots.

Akita dropped to 6-4 on the season, sixth place in the Eastern Conference.

It was Coleby’s third double double of the season. Through nine games he is averaging 15.2 points, 7.4 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.9 blocks per game.

Coleby has been a mainstay in the Akita lineup for the last four seasons. Through 34 games last season, he averaged 10.6 points per game on 54 percent shooting from the field. He also averaged 6.9 rebounds and 2.0 blocks in just over 26 minutes per game.

In 2018 he was the league leader in blocked shots (2.4 per game) in his second season with the Happinets.

Mark St Fort continues to play a larger role with Nigita Alibrex and came off the bench to lead the team in scoring for the second consecutive game.

St Fort finished with a near double double - 18 points and nine rebounds - in a 92-69 loss to defending champions, Kawasaki BT. In just 18 minutes, St Fort shot 4-6 from the field and was a perfect 7-7 from the free throw line. It was his third time scoring in double figures in six games with the club.

Last week, St Fort posted a season high scoring effort with 26 points and also ended a three game losing streak for Nigita Albirex.

In Spain, Lashann Higgs scored a team high 17 points off the bench for Embutidos Pajariel Bembibre PDM in a 70-65 loss to Ensino in the Liga Femenina Endesa.

In her rookie season of pro basketball, Higgs has emerged as the team’s leading scorer at 13.3 points per game. She is also shooting a team high 52 percent from the field and is second in rebounds at 5.3 per game.

In Spain, Lashann Higgs and Embutidos Pajariel Bembibre PDM suffered a loss in their regular season debut in Liga Femenina Endesa, the top division of women’s basketball in the country.

Embutidos has struggled at 1-7 on the season.

The Liga Femenina Endesa includes 14 teams and a 26-game regular season.

The top eight teams make the playoffs, while the bottom two seeds are relegated to the second division.

Aaron Levarity continues to be a leader for the Svendborg Rabbits of the Basketligaen in Denmark.

Levarity finished with 26 and 13 rebounds (11-18) in a 101-97 overtime win over Horsens IC. They completed the weekend with an 82-70 win over BMS Herlev Wolfpack to improve to 51.

In his first season with the club, Levarity is averaging a team leading 14.8 points and 6.6 rebounds per game.