Oct. 11, 2010

PHILADELPHIA - La Salle graduate Yves Mekongo has signed a contract to play professionally for Factum Sport Debrecen in the Hungarian A Division. He arrived in Hungary over the weekend and will begin his professional career on Wednesday when FS Debrecen takes on Salgotarjani.

Mekongo, a two-time Academic All-American and first team selection in 2009-10, was also named the NACDA I-AAA Men's Basketball Scholar Athlete of the Year and the Atlantic 10 Men's Basketball Student-Athlete of the Year.

The Cameroon native was a NACDA I-AAA Scholar-Athlete for the third straight season. Mekongo also received Academic All-Atlantic 10 and Philadelphia Inquirer Academic All-Area honors in three straight years and collected the Big 5 Sportsmanship Award at the Herb Good Banquet in April.

The senior forward from Elizabeth, N.J., boasted a 3.81 grade point average while majoring in Integrated Science, Business & Technology. A second-team Academic All-American a year ago, Mekongo averaged 11.0 points in 2009-10 and finished his career with 1,014 points.

He joins former teammate Rodney Green as members of the La Salle Class of 2010 playing professionally. Green is playing for Galil Galboa in the Israel Premier League, averaging 10.5 points and four rebounds per game in EuroLeague action.

Rasual Butler enters his ninth NBA season and second with the Los Angeles Clippers. He averaged a career-best 11.9 ppt. last season. Vernon Goodridge is currently with the Golden State Warriors in the NBA preseason.

Steven Smith and Jermaine Thomas from the Class of 2006 are both playing in Germany for EWE Baskets Oldenburgand Eisbaeren Bremerhaven, respectively.