The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

KENTWAN Smith received the opportunity he was waiting for all offseason long as he signed with a new club in a new country to continue his pro basketball career.

Smith agreed to terms with Finnish club, BC Nokia of the Korisliiga - the top level of basketball in Finland.

BC Nokia finished third in the league last season after a loss in the semi-finals. In the 2014–15 season, they won the Finnish First Division and received promotion to the Korisliiga. In their first season at the top level they finished in the 8th place during the regular season but defeated top ranked Kataja in the first round to earn a trip to the semi-finals.

Smith’s previous stop this year was as a member of Fuerza Guinda de Nogales in Mexican CIBACOPA. In 12 games he averaged  9.9 points and 5.3 rebounds but left the team in May.

Last season, his first as a pro, Smith was an impact player for his BC Timisoara Club in Romania’s Liga National.

On the season, the 6’8” 205-pound Smith is averaging 14.1 points and 6.4 rebounds per game while shooting 63 per cent from the floor despite being sidelined for the last six games.

The Liga National is the top-tier professional basketball league of Romania.

At the national team level, Smith was a member of the Bahamas’ national team that finished 7th at this summer’s FIBA Centrobasket tournament in Panama.

They earned qualification for the 2018 Central American and Caribbean Games.

He has also represented Bahamas at the CBC Championships in Tortola, British Virgin Islands.

Fellow national team member Juraun “Kino” Burrows offered recommendation when the BC Nokia coaches sought information on Smith.

“Just playing so many different places like I have, you’re always in the mix and being a person that represented yourself well, leads to opportunities for other players.  My girlfriend is Finnish and she got a call from a coach in Finland who wanted to talk to me about Kentwan,” he said, “The coach and me spoke for about 30 minutes, told him the good things, but the coach he didn’t want to know much about Kentwan on the court, he already knew what Kentwan could do on the court, he saw the highlight videos. All he asked me about was his personality in the locker room and I told him straight up. The next thing I knew he got offered the job. He’s a humble hard worker.”

He looks to continue his momentum in the pro ranks after a successful collegiate with Stetson University.

Smith, a Grand Bahamian native, finished with the best season of his career in his senior year and was named to the A-Sun second-team all-conference. He averaged 13.8 points per game and a conference leading 6.8 rebounds per game.

He shot 52 per cent from the field, 32 per cent from three, 69 per cent from the line and added 1.5 blocks per game. Smith scored in double-figures 22 times this season and has six double-doubles.

He ranked second in the conference with 45 blocked shots, the seventh-highest season total in school history.

In his junior season with the Hatters, Smith appeared in all 31 games, making 28 starts. He was the team’s second-leading scorer at 9.4 points and and second leading rebounder at 5.1 boards per game

Prior to joining the Hatters programme, Smith spent his sophomore year at Otero Junior College in LaJunta, Colorado. He played in 33 games, with 21 starts as a sophomore and averaged 10.4 points, 5.2 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game

In his freshman season, he played with Sun Belt Conference members Louisiana-Lafayette and appeared in 28 games, averaging 2.2 points and 1.7 rebounds in 7.4 minutes per game.

The son of  son of Debbie and Kenneth Smith, he spent his local high school career with the St George’s Jaguars before relocating to Piney Woods High in Mississippi.

At Piney Woods he was rated by HoopScoop as the no.12 ranked player in the state as a senior when he led them to the Mississippi 2A state championship and earned second-team all-metro honours from the Jackson Clarion-Ledger.