March 27, 2015

ST. LOUIS – Two more Midwest Professional Basketball Association players are going on to the next phase of their professional careers.

                    Brandon Provost of the St. Louis RiverSharks and Terrence Green of the Bloomington Flex will be leaving their teams—they become the fifth and sixth MPBA players to advance to the next level of professional play this season.

                    Green, an athletic 6’10” defensive specialist, has signed with Asia Inmaculada of the Liga de Lima in Peru.  He was averaging 2.9 points per game, and was fourth in the league with 29 blocked shots.

                    “While the timing is unfortunate with playoffs coming up, I know my teammates will finish this year out strong,” said Green.  “Special thanks to Scott Henderson and the Flex coaching staff for helping me develop over the years.  I will miss being a member of ‘Flex Nation,’ but the MPBA was created to help players get to the next level.  I appreciate the league for helping me make that happen,” Green said.

                    Provost, a 6’4” combo guard, signed with the RiverSharks on March 4, after playing with the  Erie BayHawks of the National Basketball Development League (NBA D-League), where he will be returning.  In five games with St. Louis, Provost was averaging 17.6 points, 5.2 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game, shooting .409 from three-point range. 

                    “It’s hard to win the league when you have to keep replacing players that move up,” said RiverSharks coach Al Grushkin.  “But that’s what we’re about, and when I got the call from Erie’s head coach (Bill Petersen) after our game Wednesday night, I couldn’t wait to tell Brandon.  The look on his face was worth it.  It’s a great thing for a great kid,” Grushkin said.

                    “It’s unfortunate I was only here a short period of time, but I enjoyed my time in the MPBA,” said Provost. “Playing for Coach Grushkin was very helpful—he’s a great teaching coach. The competition here was good, and there are lots of guys that are pretty talented, and they’ll have a chance to move up, too, if they continue to keep playing and developing,” Provost said.

                    Green and Provost join a handful of MPBA alumni that have advanced during the course of the league’s inaugural season.

                    Kenny Williams of the RiverSharks was the first MPBA player to sign a foreign contract—he signed in Sweden after appearing in four games with St. Louis.  Arnold Louis of Champaign then signed in Colombia, where he recently earned Player of the Week honors.  Brandon Hogg and Anthony Booker, both of the RiverSharks, signed with the same pro team in Albania.

                    “We’re pleased to have so many players advance their careers in such a short period of time in our first season,” said MPBA Commissioner C. Edward “Ed” Schumer.  “It’s hard for the coaches, but it’s a good problem to have.  We’re fulfilling our mission.  One of the guys—Anthony Booker—was seen by scouts in Albania when they were watching a live stream of one of our games while they were scouting someone else.  It shows our model is working,” Schumer said.