Benjamin Ethan Lawson (born 12 June 1995) is a British professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player who plays for the Fukui Blowinds of the

B.League The B.League is a professional men's basketball league that began in Japan in September 2016. The league is operated by the Japan Professional Basketball League and was formed as a result of a merger between the National Basketball League that w ...

in Japan. He played

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

for

Western Kentucky Western Kentucky is the western portion of the U.S. state of Kentucky. It generally includes part or all of several more widely recognized regions of the state. ;Always included * The Jackson Purchase, the state's westernmost generally recogniz ...

. Standing at 7 ft 1 in (2.16 m), Lawson plays the

power forward The power forward (PF), also known as the four, is one of the five traditional Basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game. Traditionally, power forwards have played a role similar to center (basketball), centers. When on Of ...

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

positions.

High school career

Oaklands College (2011–13) Lawson's basketball career began at

Oaklands College Oaklands College is a further education college in Hertfordshire, United Kingdom. It was established in 1991 when further education was reorganised. The college has campuses in St Albans and Welwyn Garden City, with a further provision in Boreh ...

St. Albans St Albans () is a cathedral city in Hertfordshire, England, east of Hemel Hempstead and west of Hatfield, north-west of London, south-west of Welwyn Garden City and south-east of Luton. St Albans was the first major town on the old Roman ro ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. He averaged 15 points, 11 rebounds, and 4.7 blocks during the 2012-13 season. Shot 45 percent from the floor and 40 percent from three-point range; season highs were 32 points and 21 rebounds.

College career

Western Kentucky (2013–17) Lawson played for

. As a senior, he averaged 5.3 points and 3.3 rebounds per game. Lawson finished his college career with 185 blocks, ranking fourth on WKU’s all-time list.

Professional career

European University of Lefke (2017–18) Played his first professional season with the

European University of Lefke European University of Lefke (EUL) is an institution of higher learning located in the Northern Cyprus (''de facto'' state ) Nicosia District town of Lefka, overlooking Morphou Bay. Founded in 1989 by Cyprus Science Foundation, the university ...

in the North Cyprus first league. Lawson hit the decisive game winning shot in the playoff series, sending EUL into the Championship final. Fukuoka Rizing Zephyr (2018–19) Lawson played his second professional season with

Rizing Zephyr Fukuoka The Rizing Zephyr Fukuoka are a Japanese basketball team, playing in the second division of the B.League. They are based in Fukuoka Prefecture and were coached by Joe Bryant, the father of Kobe Bryant, in 2015. Roster Notable p ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. He appeared in 44 games (43 starts) and averaged 15 points, 10.5 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 1.18 steals, and 1.7 blocks in 34.6 minutes; he shot 49.8 percent from the field and 68.8 percent from the free throw line in the Japanese

. Lawson scored in double figures 40 times, including 6 games with at least 20 points; he grabbed double-digit rebounds 21 times and posted 20

double-doubles In basketball, a double-double is a single-game performance in which a player accumulates ten or more in two of the following five statistical categories: points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocked shots. The first "double" in the term ...

. Memphis Grizzlies NBA Summer League (2019) Lawson competed with the

Memphis Grizzlies The Memphis Grizzlies (referred to locally as the Grizz) are an American professional basketball team based in Memphis, Tennessee. The Grizzlies compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference ...

in the

NBA Summer League The NBA Summer League, also known as the Las Vegas Summer League, is an off-season competition organized by the National Basketball Association. NBA teams come together to try out different summer rosters instead of their regular season line-ups ...

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

and

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

. Memphis became the NBA Summer League Champions on 15 July 2019. Earning quality minutes in the tournament, Lawson was an integral part of the Grizzlies run to the final.

National team career

In 2013, Lawson and

Basketball England Basketball England (BE, formally ''England Basketball'')2013 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship The 2013 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship was the 30th edition of the FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship. 16 teams participated in the competition, held in Latvia, from 18 to 28 July 2013. Croatia were the defending champions. Turkey became the new ...

. In a valuable and experience-gaining tournament, Lawson and the team finished 9th out of 16th. In a historic overtime game Vs Spain, England were victors 75-66. The

2014 FIBA Europe Under-20 Championship The 2014 FIBA Europe Under-20 Championship was the 17th edition of the FIBA Europe Under-20 Championship. The competition was played in Crete, Greece, from 8 to 20 July 2014. The winners were Turkey. To win the title they beat Spain with a score o ...

was hosted by

Crete, Greece Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterr ...

. After a promising group stage with Great Britain placing 2nd, Lawson sustained a back injury leaving him out of action until the last two remaining games of the tournament. Great Britain finished 11th out of 20. Italy was the location for the

2015 FIBA Europe Under-20 Championship The 2015 FIBA Europe Under-20 Championship was the 18th edition of the FIBA Europe Under-20 Championship. The competition took place in Lignano Sabbiadoro and Latisana, Italy, from 7 to 19 July 2015. Participating teams * (Runners-up, 2014 FIBA ...

. The team finished 15th in the tournament; Lawson had a standout game of 11 points and 9 rebounds against Germany.

Personal life

Having been a rugby player from a young age, Lawson realised his body type had become less suited to rugby, and switched to basketball at the age of 15. He transferred over to

from Hitchin Boys School at the age of 16 and spent 2011 - 2013 developing his game with the basketball academy and competing in the EABL (Elite Academy Basketball League). In the two years with Oaklands, he went from school to county, to regional, and then was invited to join the national team squads at U18 and U20.

Career statistics

Professional career , - , style="text-align:left;", 2017-18 , style="text-align:left;", European University of Lefke* , 42 , , 42 , , 28.4 , , .563 , , .327 , , .781, , 11.8 , , 1.21 , , 1.91 , , 2.38 , , 20.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2018-19 , style="text-align:left;", Fukuoka Rizing Zephyr , 44 , , 43 , , 34.6 , , .498 , , .200 , , .688, , 10.5 , , 1.94 , , 1.27 , , 1.76 , , 15.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2019 , style="text-align:left;", Memphis Grizzlies , 8 , , 1 , , 14.8 , , .412 , , .231 , , .729, , 5.50 , , 0.12 , , 0.62 , , 0.75 , , 6.12 *No official statistics accessible for the 2017-18 season. National team career , - , style="text-align:left;", 2012-13 , style="text-align:left;", Team England U18 , 3 , , 2 , , 23.3 , , .500 , , 1.000 , , .750, , 2.7 , , 0.3 , , 3 , , 1.3 , , 6.7 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2013 , style="text-align:left;", Team GB U18 , 7 , , 7 , , 14.2 , , .414 , , .000 , , .500 , , 2.1 , , 0.1 , , 0.4 , , 0.3 , , 3.6 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2014 , style="text-align:left;", Team GB U20 , 8 , , 8 , , 19.5 , , .400 , , .000 , , .812, , 4.2 , , 0.9 , , 0.8 , , 1.6 , , 5.1 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2015 , style="text-align:left;", Team GB U20 , 9 , , 9 , , 25.3 , , .542 , , .000 , , .462, , 4.6 , , 0.6, , 0.8 , , 1.4 , , 7.8 College career , - , style="text-align:left;", 2013-14 , style="text-align:left;", Western Kentucky , 12 , , 2 , , 7.9 , , .471 , , .000 , , .667, , 1.50 , , 0.17 , , 0.08 , , 0.75 , , 2.00 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2014-15 , style="text-align:left;", Western Kentucky , 32 , , 8 , , 18.8 , , .583 , , .000 , , .490, , 3.22 , , 0.66 , , 0.44 , , 1.66 , , 3.84 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2015-16 , style="text-align:left;", Western Kentucky , 34 , , 11 , , 16.1 , , .594 , , 1.000 , , .767, , 3.29 , , 0.38 , , 0.32 , , 1.91 , , 5.03 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2016-17 , style="text-align:left;", Western Kentucky , 32 , , 15 , , 15.8 , , .569 , , .000 , , .643, , 3.25 , , 0.22 , , 0.44 , , 1.78 , , 5.28 , - , style=“text-align:left;”, Career , style=“text-align:left;”, Western Kentucky , 110 , , 36 , , 15.8 , , .575 , , .200 , , .650 , , 3.06 , , 0.39 , , 0.36 , , 1.67 , , 4.43

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lawson, Benjamin 1995 births Living people British expatriate basketball people in the United States British men's basketball players Kumamoto Volters players Rizing Zephyr Fukuoka players Western Kentucky Hilltoppers basketball players Centers (basketball) Sportspeople from Welwyn Garden City Toyotsu Fighting Eagles Nagoya players English expatriate sportspeople in the United States British expatriate basketball people in Japan English expatriate sportspeople in Japan English expatriate sportspeople in Northern Cyprus Expatriate basketball people in Northern Cyprus