Taipei, April 19 (CNA) American forward Rashad Jones-Jennings was named Most Valuable Player of the Super Basketball League (SBL) Tuesday, making him the first foreign player to win the annual honor in Taiwan's top basketball competition.
The 2.03-meter forward averaged a record-breaking 21.1 rebounds per game and helped his team, Pure Youth Construction, to finish as runner-up in the regular season with 19 wins and 11 losses.
The seven-team league held its annual award ceremony that day, five days after Taiwan Beer beat Dacin Tigers 4-1 in the best-of-seven finals to win its third title.
Jones-Jennings, known as a "rebound machine," led the U.S. Division I college basketball in rebounds in the 2006-2007 season with 13.1 rebounds per game playing for the University of Arkansas when he was a college senior.
The 26-year-old made the SBL First Team along with Tien Lei of Dacin Tigers, Chen Chih-chung of Yulon Luxgen, Chen Shun-hsiang of Bank of Taiwan and Chen Ching-hwan of Kinmen Kaoliang Liquor (KKL).
Pure Youth head coach Hsu Chin-tse, 37, became the first three-time Coach of the Year award winner after previously winning in 2008 and 2010.
Chien Chia-hung won his sixth Man of the Year award to cap a glorious afternoon for Pure Youth, which lost to Dacin 4-1 in the first round playoffs.
Chang Jung-hsuan of KKL was named Most Improved Player of the Year, while American forward Marcus Dove got the nod as the Defensive Player of the Year after leading the league in steals and blocked shots.
Taiwan Beer forward guard Yang Ching-min was named Most Valuable Player of the SBL Finals.
The SBL, the top-tier basketball league in Taiwan, was established in 2003. (By Chris Wang) ENDITEM/J