Brynjar Þór Björnsson (born 11 July 1988) is an Icelandic

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 and a former member of the Icelandic national team. He has won the Icelandic championship eight times and the Icelandic Basketball Cup three times with KR and is the club's all-time leader in scoring and games played.

Playing career

Early career

In the fifth and deciding game of the 2007 Úrvalsdeild Finals against Snæfell, Brynjar made a three-point shot with 3 seconds left in regulation to tie the game at 68–68 and send it to overtime. KR prevailed in overtime, winning the game 76–74 and its tenth national championship.

College

Brynjar played for

Francis Marion University Francis Marion University is a public university near Florence, South Carolina. It is named in honor of American Revolutionary War Brigadier General Francis Marion. History The university dates back to 1957, when the University of South Carolin ...

from 2008 to 2009. He left the school in January 2009.

Sweden

In 2011, Brynjar joined Jämtland Basket of the Swedish

Basketligan Svenska Basketligan, or the Swedish Basketball League (SBL), is the premier league for professional basketball in Sweden. The league was originally established in 1992 as Basketligan and was known as that prior to the season of 2006–07, but whe ...

and for the season he averaged 10.4 points per game and made 40.8 percent of his

three point shot A three-point field goal (also 3-pointer, three, or trey) is a field goal in a basketball game made from beyond the three-point line, a designated arc surrounding the basket. A successful attempt is worth three points, in contrast to the two po ...

Return to KR

He rejoined KR in 2012 and helped the club win the national championship four times in a row, from 2014 to 2017. He resigned with KR in 2017 after contemplating a move to

Þór Akureyri Íþróttafélagið Þór, commonly known as Þór Akureyri, simply Þór or Thór, is a multi-sport club in Akureyri, Iceland. It features departments in Basketball, football, Handball and Taekwondo. Its main rivals is another sport club from A ...

. On November 10, 2017, Brynjar became KR's all-time leading scorer in the Úrvalsdeild, surpassing Guðni Ólafur Guðnason who scored 3144 points for KR. On March 12, 2018, Brynjar broke a finger on practice and was expected to miss KR's first round playoff series against

Njarðvík Njarðvík () is a town in southwestern Iceland, on the peninsula of Reykjanes. As of 2009, its population was 4,400. History In 1995 it merged with the town of Keflavík and the village of Hafnir to form the new municipality of Reykjanesbær. T ...

. On April 25, 2018, Brynjar scored a

buzzer beater In basketball and other such timed sports, a buzzer beater is a shot that is taken before the game clock of a quarter, a half (if the half is the second one, then, a game), or an overtime period expires but does not go in the basket until after t ...

to give KR a 75–77 victory against Tindastóll and a 2–1 lead in the Úrvalsdeild finals series. On April 28, he won his eight Icelandic championship after KR defeated Tindastóll in the fourth game of the series.

Tindastóll

On June 8, 2018, Brynjar left KR and signed with rivals Tindastóll. On 30 September, he won the

Icelandic Super Cup The Icelandic Men's Super Cup (Icelandic: ''Meistarakeppni karla'') is an annual football game between the reigning champions of the Úrvalsdeild karla and the Icelandic Cup holders (or, if the same team holds both titles, between the title-holde ...

after Tindastóll beat KR, 103–72. On December 9, Brynjar set the Úrvalsdeild record for most three-pointers made in a game when he made 16 of 31 three-point shots, on his way to 48 points, in a victory against Breiðablik, breaking Frank Booker's 27-year-old record. In April 2019, Tindastóll agreed to release him from his contract following the team's first round exit in the Úrvalsdeild playoffs.

Third stint with KR

On 29 June 2019, Brynjar returned to KR. On 5 March 2020 he announced he would not play in KR's upcoming game against Stjarnan due to the

coronavirus pandemic in Iceland The COVID-19 pandemic in Iceland is part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). The virus was confirmed to have reached Iceland in February 2020. , the total ...

without consulting the team first. Shortly later, on 13 March 2020 with each team having one game left, the season was postponed, and later canceled due to the pandemic. In August 2022, Brynjar announced his retirement from top-tier basketball.

Icelandic national team

From 2007 to 2017, Brynjar played 68 games for the Icelandic national team. He retired from the national team in February 2018.

Awards and accomplishments

Club honours

* Icelandic Champion (8): 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014, 2015,

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

* Icelandic Basketball Cup (3): 2011, 2016, 2017 *

(3): 2007, 2014, 2015, 2018 * Icelandic Company Cup (2): 2008, 2014

Individual awards

* Úrvalsdeild Domestic All-First team (2): 2010, 2011 * Úrvalsdeild Playoffs MVP : 2016 * Úrvalsdeild Young Player of the Year: 2005

Personal life

Brynjar is the son of Björn M. Björgvinsson, the former chairman of the

Icelandic Basketball Association The Icelandic Basketball Association (''Icelandic:Körfuknattleikssamband Íslands - KKÍ'') is the national governing body of basketball in Iceland and is a member of the continental association FIBA Europe and the global International Basketbal ...

References

External links

Brynjar Björnsson stats
at basketball.realgm.com
Brynjar Björnsson stats
at kki.is {{DEFAULTSORT:Brynjar Thor Bjornsson Bjornsson, Brynjar Thor Bjornsson, Brynjar Thor Francis Marion Patriots men's basketball players Icelandic expatriate basketball people in Sweden Icelandic expatriate basketball people in the United States Icelandic men's basketball players Jämtland Basket players KR men's basketball players Bjornsson, Brynjar Thor Basketball players from Reykjavík Ungmennafélagið Tindastóll men's basketball players Úrvalsdeild karla (basketball) players