Brian Anthony Beshara (Feghali) (born 30 December 1977) is a former Lebanese

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. Beshara was also a member of the

Lebanese national basketball team The Lebanon men's national basketball team (; french: Équipe du Liban de basket-ball), controlled by the Lebanese Basketball Federation (FLB), has represented Lebanon in basketball since its inception in 1947. The squad is governed by FIBA, and ...

. At 6'8", he was Lebanon's starting

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

and played an important role on both the offensive and defensive sides. His former LSU coach John Brady describes him as follows:"Brian Beshara is a good basketball player. He's tough. He's competitive. He believes in what he's doing."

College and Club Basketball

After graduating from Highland Park High School in

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County w ...

, Beshara played college basketball first for one year at

Rice Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima ''Oryza glaberrima'', commonly known as African rice, is one of the two domesticated rice species. It was first domesticated and grown i ...

and then three years with the

LSU Tigers The LSU Tigers and Lady Tigers are the athletic teams representing Louisiana State University (LSU), a state university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. LSU competes in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as a ...

. In 2001, he joined Lebanese Champions and Arab and Asian Club Champions

Sagesse Beirut Sagesse Sports Club (), known as Hekmeh ( ar, الحكمة) in Arabic, is a multi-sports club in Lebanon. History Hekmeh, or Club Sportif La Sagesse was founded in 1943, under the patronage of the Maronite father Boulos Kike, supported by his e ...

(Hekmeh), where he teamed up with local stars such as

Fadi El Khatib Fadi El Khatib ( ar, فادي الخطيب; born January 1, 1979), nicknamed "the Lebanese Tiger", is a Lebanese professional basketball player who plays in the Lebanese Basketball League for Sagesse. El Khatib played for several teams in the L ...

and

Elie Mechantaf Elie Mechantaf ( ar, إيلي مشنتف; born in Beirut, Lebanon on October 5, 1970) is a retired Lebanese professional basketball player. He started his basketball career in the Cypriot Basketball League, before becoming the captain of the Le ...

and played under National Coach

Ghassan Sarkis Ghassan Sarkis ( ar, غسان سركيس, born in Bikfaya in 1957) is a Lebanese-French basketball coach who has worked in the Lebanese Basketball League. He became especially famous during his time coaching the Lebanese team Sagesse in its golde ...

. Following a two-year spell at

Hekmeh BC Sagesse Sports Club (), known as Hekmeh ( ar, الحكمة) in Arabic, is a Lebanese sports club based in Beirut. The basketball team was established in 1992, as part of the Club Sagesse established in 1943 with mainly the football (soccer) te ...

(also known as Sagesse), Beshara left for the recently formed Lebanese club, Blue Stars, where he played for a couple of years during which he was limited with various injuries. After Blue Stars, Beshara rejoined his former coach, Sarkis, for the 2005/2006 season, with his new team,

Champville SC Champville SC ( ar, نادي الشانفيل الرياضي) is a Lebanese basketball team from Dik El Mehdi, Lebanon, which competes in the Lebanese Basketball League. History In Game 4 of the 2011–2012 Finals, Champville defeated Anibal Zah ...

. Following a disagreement with the club's management, Beshara left Champville and found himself without a team for the 2006/2007 season, as Champville refused to free him from his contract and let him join league champions

Sporting Al Riyadi Beirut Al Riyadi Club Beirut ( ar, نادي الرياضي بيروت, lit=Sporting Club Beirut) is a multi-sports club based in Manara, a district in Beirut, Lebanon. Founded in 1934, the basketball team competes in the Lebanese Basketball League. T ...

. Later on, he played for a short period in Al Mouttahed, then spent some time between

and

National Team Basketball

Brian Beshara was an important asset for

. He played part in the qualification to both the

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

and

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

world championships in Indianapolis and Japan, respectively. Below are some statistics for his performance with the national team. One of the highest achievements realized by the

was their 74–73 victory over the

French national basketball team The France men's national basketball team (french: Équipe de France de basketball) represents France in international basketball and is administered by the French Federation of Basketball. France is currently ranked fifth in the FIBA World Ran ...

on August 23, 2006 during the 2006 World Championship in

Sendai, Japan is the capital city of Miyagi Prefecture, the largest city in the Tōhoku region. , the city had a population of 1,091,407 in 525,828 households, and is one of Japan's 20 designated cities. The city was founded in 1600 by the ''daimyō'' Date ...

. In the game, Beshara scored 11 points and led the team with 8 rebounds.2006 FIBA World Championship - powered by www.fiba.com
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References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beshara, Brian 1977 births Living people 2006 FIBA World Championship players American men's basketball players American expatriate basketball people in Lebanon Lebanese men's basketball players LSU Tigers men's basketball players New Orleans Privateers men's basketball coaches Power forwards (basketball) Rice Owls men's basketball players Sportspeople from Dallas Sagesse SC basketball players Al Riyadi Club Beirut basketball players Basketball players from Dallas