Former Ram Bryant Dunston Wins Second Straight Euroleague Best Defender Award

Euroleague Release
 
Bronx, N.Y. (May 14, 2015) – Former Fordham University forward Bryant Dunston was voted the 2015 Best Defender Trophy winner by Turkish Airlines Euroleague head coaches, his second consecutive Best Defender Award. He is just the second player to be voted the competition's best defender more than once, joining six-time winner Dimitris Diamantidis.
 

Bryant Dunston of @olympiacosbc is the 2014-2015 Euroleague Best Defender #F4Glory pic.twitter.com/HJMUBETxbZ

— Sportando (@sportando) May 14, 2015

 
Dunston just completed his second season with Olympiacos Piraeus where he ranked fifth in the Euroleague with 1.1 blocks per game and rejected at least one shot in all but six games. He was also one of just three players – joining Brian Randle of Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv and Jan Vesely of Fenerbahce Ulker Istanbul – with more than 20 blocks and 20 steals during the season. Dunston helped Olympiacos limit its opponents to league-lows of 71.2 points and 14.6 assists per game and was best among teams that played past the regular season in holding teams to 45.7% on two-point shooting.
 
On the year, Dunston started 23 games and averaged 7.3 ppg while leading Olympiacos in blocks and ranking second on the team in steals (0.8 spg) and third in rebounds (4.5 rpg).
 
Last year, Dunston averaged 8.9 ppg and 5.4 rpg, shooting over 70.0% from the field (119-169), while also blocking 30 shots and recording 30 steals in 34 games for Olympiacos Piraeus. He was the first player in the Euroleague this century to compile at least 30 blocks and 30 steals in a single season.
 
Dunston burst onto the Fordham scene as a rookie in 2004-2005, being named the Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Year that season, one of three Rams to earn that honor, as well the Metropolitan Basketball Writers Rookie of the Year. He accumulated 431 points that season, the second most by a Fordham freshman at the time, leading the Rams in both scoring and rebounding.
 
After leading the NIT All-Star team to a perfect 7-0 record on a tour of England and Ireland the summer following his freshman season, Dunston earned First Team All-Atlantic 10 honors as a sophomore. He led the Rams to their best ever finish in the Atlantic 10 conference, placing sixth in the regular season and then advancing to the semifinals of the Atlantic 10 Championship for the first time where he earned All-Championship Team honors. Dunston finished the year averaging a team-high 16.1 ppg, fifth best in the conference, while also averaging a team-high 7.6 rpg, fourth best in the A-10.
 
As a junior in 2006-2007, Dunston was named Second Team All-Atlantic 10 and Second Team All-District for the second straight year by the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC). He averaged 14.5 ppg along with a team-best 7.2 rpg.
 
Dunston, who was who was inducted into the Fordham Athletic Hall of Fame in 2014, capped his career in 2007-2008 by earning second team All-Atlantic 10 accolades for the second straight year, as well as being named to the Atlantic 10 All-Defensive team and United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) All-District II. He also was co-recipient of the 2008 Vincent T. Lombardi Memorial Award as the school's top male athlete. He led the team in scoring (15.5 ppg) and rebounding, averaging an Atlantic 10 best 9.8 rpg. He also led the Atlantic 10 with 15 doubles-doubles.
 
Over his four-year career, Dunston appeared in 120 career games, starting 118, amassing 1,832 career points, good for second place on the Fordham all-time scoring list. He also pulled down 993 career rebounds, good for third all-time at Rose Hill following his graduation. Dunston is also Fordham's career blocked shots leader with 294 rejections.