Justin Sears

Justin Sears
Justin Sears (2014)
Player information
birthday	January 3, 1994
size	203 cm
position	Power Forward / Center
college	Yale
Club information
society	MHP giant Ludwigsburg
league	Basketball Bundesliga
Jersey number	5
Clubs as active
2012–2016 Yale Bulldogs ( NCAA ) 2016–2017 Gießen 46ers 2017–2018 MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg Since 2018 EWE Baskets Oldenburg 0

Justin Sears (born January 3, 1994 ) is an American basketball player . After studying in his home country, Sears started a professional career in Germany in 2016 . After one season each at Gießen 46ers and MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg, he has been playing for league rivals EWE Baskets Oldenburg since the 2018/19 basketball Bundesliga .

Career

Sears grew up in Plainfield, New Jersey , where he graduated from the Academy for Information Technology in Scotch Plains . Since this school had no sports teams, he remained active for the basketball team of Plainfield High School , for which he was the second player in their history to score more than 1000 points and more than 1000 rebounds . Finally, he went to study at the renowned Yale University in New Haven (Connecticut) , for which he was active in their sports team Bulldogs in the Ivy League of the NCAA .

Although athletes on the Ivy League teams often do not seek professional careers as competitive athletes, Sears was not only one of the best basketball players at this conference, but also achieved recognition as an Honorable Mention for the nationwide All-American . This honor was before Sears recently in 1984 a basketball player at Yale University bestowed, also Sears was the first Yale student twice as "Player of the Year" ( German  Player of the Year award) of the Ivy League, citing, among other things, the German national team Maodo Lô preferred. Sears also benefited from the fact that the Yale Bulldogs with Sears and the other German national player Makai Mason were able to prevail against Lôs Columbia Lions in 2015 and 2016 within the Ivy League and after 14 years of abstinence qualified for the national NCAA finals in 2016 .

In 2014, the Yale Bulldogs had reached the final in the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament after victories, including the Columbia Lions, who won this tournament with Lô two years later, in the "All-Tournament Selection" Sears stood idle after an injury in the semifinals Lost to the Murray State Racers . A year later, in 2015 in the Ivy League, an elimination game between the Yale Bulldogs and the victorious Harvard Crimson had to decide on participation in the NCAA finals, as the Ivy League did not yet know a postseason tournament. After the Crimson won this game with 53:51, the Bulldogs were not able to qualify for the NCAA finals until Sears' senior year 2016 as the undisputed best team in the Ivy League for the first time in 54 years. In their only fourth participation in this tournament, they managed an "upset" as a weaker team over the Baylor Bears and the first victory in the history of the Yale Bulldogs in this prestigious competition. With the defeat in the following game, Sears' career as a basketball player in the NCAA ended against the highly favored Duke Blue Devils , who failed in the following round in Sweet Sixteen at the Oregon Ducks to Sears later Ludwigsburg teammate Elgin Cook .

At the beginning of June 2016, Sears signed his first professional contract with the German old master 46ers from Gießen , who was able to confirm his position in the previous year in ninth place in the basketball Bundesliga 2016/17 and again just barely missed the play-offs for the German championship . One place ahead of the Giesseners was the MHP Riesen from Ludwigsburg , who signed Sears and his Giessen teammate Dwayne Evans for the following 2017/18 BBL season . With the MHP giants, Sears also took part in international club competitions for the first time and moved into the main draw of the 2017/18 Champions League via qualifying rounds . After the MHP giants had just barely failed in the quarter-finals at the premiere of this competition last year, this time with Sears after victories in the knockout rounds over the German competitors EWE Baskets Oldenburg and medi Bayreuth, they made it into the final. Four tournament.

Web links

• easyCredit BBL - Justin Sears - player profile on the easyCredit Basketball-Bundesliga website
• Justin Sears - Yale - Profile on the sports websites of Yale University (2016)
• Justin Sears College Stats - Statistics from college seasons at sports-reference.com (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Tim Bennett: Bulldogs Fall To Murray State 65-57 In CIT Championship Game. (No longer available online.) Yale University , April 3, 2014, archived from the original on April 20, 2018 ; accessed on April 19, 2018 (English, media information). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
2. ↑ Jeré Longman: Late Shot Extends Harvard's Run and Yale's Drought in Ivy League. The New York Times , March 14, 2015, accessed April 19, 2018 . 
3. ↑ Peter May: Finally Back, Yale Will Stay Awhile After an Upset of Baylor. The New York Times , March 17, 2016, accessed April 19, 2018 . 
4. ↑ Associated Press : No. 12 Yale upsets Baylor behind Makai Mason's 31 points. ESPN , March 18, 2016, accessed April 19, 2018 (match report with statistics). 
5. ↑ Peter May: After Trailing Duke by 27, Yale Musters a Last Thrill on Its Way Out. The New York Times , March 19, 2016, accessed April 19, 2018 . 
6. ↑ Giessen 46ers sign Justin Sears. Gießener Anzeiger , June 7, 2016, accessed April 19, 2018 . 
7. ↑ Front court reinforcement from Gießen: Justin Sears moves to Ludwigsburg. Basketball Bundesliga , July 12, 2017, accessed on April 19, 2018 (Medien-Info MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg). 
8. ↑ Sears leads MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg to Final Four with Leg 2 win in Bayreuth. Basketball Champions League , April 4, 2018, accessed on April 19, 2018 (English, match report as media information).