Feb. 5, 2009

PHILADELPHIA, PA – La Salle University junior basketball player Yves Mekongo Mbala (Elizabeth, NJ/St. Patrick) has been named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District Team for District 2.

 

Mekongo Mbala was just one of five players in the district to receive the honor.

 

An Integrated Science, Business Technology major, Mekongo Mbala has started 60 consecutive games for the Explorers – the longest streak of any current La Salle player – and is the team’s leading rebounder with an average of 6.4 boards per game and is the third-leading scoring with 11.1 points per game.

 

The honor is just the latest academic and athletic achievement for the native of Cameroon who was also just one of ten players named to the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) AAA Academic All-American team last season, was named to the Atlantic 10 Academic All-Conference and the Philadelphia Inquirer/Philly-SIDA Academic All-Region teams for the 2007-08 season.

 

The ESPN The Magazine All-District award is broken into eight districts across the country and is split between University and College Divisions within the districts.  The University Division consists of only one team/five players.  Mekongo Mbala had the highest grade point average of the five District 2 University honorees.

 

Since his nomination for the All-District team, Mekongo Mbala has posted a career-high 26 points in the Explorers win over George Washington and has averaged nearly 14 points and 7.2 rebounds per game.

 

All-District honorees are now eligible for the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America Team which will be announced towards the end of the season.