Eric Devendorf at his peak, leading the Wellington Saints to the New Zealand championship in 2010. DEVENDORF UPDATE: Bay City's Only Pro Basketball Player Scoring in Ukraine
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Bay City's Eric Devendorf off the bench and is beginning to make his mark in the Ukrainian SuperLeague, racking up a 9.6 pts per game average in 16 games.
World traveler Devendorf, onetime Syracuse star, landed in Russia this year after stints in the NBA-D League with the Reno Bighorns and the Idaho Stampede, for the Melbourne Tigers in Australia and in New Zealand for the Waikato club where he burned the nets for a 20 plus points per game average and the Wellington Saints who he led to the championship.
Devendorf is a 6-4 guard for the Ukrainian DniproAzot team that is 10th ranked in the league but upset the fifth ranked Hoverla team 94-92 on Saturday. He got six points in the contest on 3-6 shooting from the field and added two rebounds and three assists.
Devo has played in 16 of the team's 25 games so far this season, averaging nearly 19 minutes per game playing time.
He is shooting at a 49.1 percent clip on two pointers and 39.1 percent from 3 point range. His free throw percentage is 73.7 percent and he is averaging 1.6 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game.
In New Zealand, Devendorf scored 24 points to lead the Wellington Saints to a win in Game 2 to set up the decisive third game. He also was the leading scorer in the final game when the Saints won the New Zealand championship in 2010.
Devendorf began that year with the Waikato Pistons, but was released after an off-the-court incident. The team said the release was not related to the incident, despite the fact the Devendorf was averaging more than 24 points per game for the Pistons.
New Zealand sportswriters reported: "The Wellington Saints, who feature former Syracuse star Eric Devendorf, held off a late rally and beat the Waikato Pistons -- Devendorf's former team -- 82-79 to win New Zealand's National Basketball League championship.
"Devendorf scored 17 points in the title game despite sitting out for a while when he 'tweaked' his ankle in the second quarter, according to an account of the game on the website stuff.co.nz. Devendorf also hit some key free throws down the stretch.
From the game report: "In front by only three, and with just 13 seconds remaining, the Saints premature celebrations ground to a halt. Former Waikato guard Eric Devendorf came to the rescue, sinking two from the free-throw line for Wellington to steady the ship and secure Saints the win."
Poor pay in the NBA-D League may have caused caused Devendorf to return to the international circuit, perhaps giving up any chance of ever playing in the NBA. However, he is only 25 and, if he keeps rising overseas, who knows? ###
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