HAMMOND, La. – Former Southeastern Louisiana men’s basketball player Brandon Fortenberry was picked by the Bakersfield Jam in Friday’s National Basketball Development League Draft.
Fortenberry, a native of Picayune, Miss., was taken with Bakersfield’s final pick of the sixth round, 102nd overall. The fifth-year senior averaged 14.6 points per game along with 4.5 rebounds and 2.8 assists for the season and ranked among the Southland Conference leaders in minutes played (3rd, 35.5), 3-pointers made (6th, 1.6) and free throw percentage (6th, 73.5 percent).
In Southland Conference play, Fortenberry averaged 16.9 points and 3.1 assists per game while shooting nearly 80 percent from the charity stripe. Fortenberry scored in double figures in 24 games, scoring 20 or more in nine contests with a career-high tying 30-point performance in a league win at Nicholls State.
Fortenberry, who earned first-team All-Southland Conference and NABC All-District honors, finished his career as the school’s fifth all-time leading scorer (1,348 points) while finishing first in games played (120), second in assists (421), fourth in 3-pointers made (168), fifth in free throws made (292) and sixth in steals (110).
Last season Bakersfield finished with the best overall record in the D League (36-14), falling in the first round of the playoffs to former Lion Patrick Sullivan and his Austin Toros. Joining Fortenberry on the Jam’s roster is former Southern Jaguar Derick Beltran, drafted by the Jam with their third-round pick.
Other Southland Conference players drafted include Central Arkansas’ Robert Crawford (Tulsa 66ers, fifth round) and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi’s Garland Judkins (Santa Cruz Warriors, sixth round).