Isaac Bonton (born July 15, 1998) is an American 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 for

BC Yambol BC Yambol ( bg, БК „Ямбол“) is a Bulgarian professional basketball club based in Yambol. Founded in 1945, Yambol has won the Bulgarian championship once as Yambolgas. They play their home matches at the Diana Hall. The team is a regula ...

of the

National Basketball League (Bulgaria) The National Basketball League (NBL) (in Bulgarian: Националната баскетболна лига) is the highest professional basketball league in Bulgaria. The current league was founded in 2008, though the first-tier level existed si ...

(NBL). 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 the

Montana State Bobcats The Montana State Bobcats are the varsity athletic teams representing Montana State University in Bozeman in intercollegiate athletics. The university sponsors thirteen teams including men and women's basketball, cross country, skiing, tennis, a ...

, the Casper Thunderbirds, and the

Washington State Cougars The Washington State Cougars (known informally as the Cougs) are the athletic teams that represent Washington State University. Located in Pullman, Washington, WSU is a member of the Pac-12 Conference in NCAA Division I. The athletic program co ...

High school career

Bonton attended Columbia Christian Schools in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

. As a freshman, he played alongside

Kameron Chatman Kam Chatman (born June 1, 1996) is an American professional basketball player for the Scarborough Shooting Stars of the CEBL. He played college basketball for the Detroit Titans after transferring from the Michigan Wolverines men's basketball t ...

and won the Class 1A state title. For his final three years, Bonton transferred to

Parkrose High School Parkrose High School is a public high school in Portland, Oregon, United States. It is the only high school in the Parkrose School District. Academics In 2008, 72% of the school's seniors received a high school diploma. Of 231 students, 167 gradua ...

in Portland. He missed part of his senior season due to a shoulder injury and completed high school as a three-time All-State selection. Bonton originally committed to playing college basketball for

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

before switching his commitment to

Montana State Montana State University (MSU) is a public land-grant research university in Bozeman, Montana. It is the state's largest university. MSU offers baccalaureate degrees in 60 fields, master's degrees in 68 fields, and doctoral degrees in 35 fiel ...

because of a coaching change.

College career

Bonton left Montana State after 11 games in his freshman season due to disagreements with head coach

Brian Fish Brian Fish (born December 20, 1965) is an American college basketball coach, most recently serving as head coach for the Montana State Bobcats men's basketball team. Fish is currently the director of player personnel for the University of Georgia ...

. He averaged 7.8 points and 2.8 rebounds per game. Bonton transferred to

Casper College Casper College is a public community college in Casper, Wyoming. It is one of the largest and most comprehensive community colleges in the region. Established in 1945 as Wyoming's first junior college and initially located on the third floor o ...

, averaging 21.4 points, 5.6 assists and 5.5 rebounds per game as a sophomore. He led his team to a Region IX title and was named a Second Team

National Junior College Athletic Association The National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA), founded in 1938, is the governing association of community college, state college and junior college athletics throughout the United States. Currently the NJCAA holds 24 separate regions ...

Division I All-American. For his junior season, Bonton moved to

Washington State Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first U.S. president—the state was formed from the western part of the Washington ...

, choosing the Cougars over

Kansas State Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant college in 1863 and was the first public instit ...

and

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...

. On January 18, 2020, he recorded a season-high 34 points, eight rebounds and eight assists in an 89–76 win over

Oregon State Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering col ...

. As a junior, Bonton averaged 15.3 points, four assists and 3.7 rebounds per game. He set the program record for free throw percentage during

Pac-12 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

play, shooting 88.6 percent.

Professional career

On September 29, 2021, Bonton signed his first professional contract with Neptūnas Klaipėda of the

Lithuanian Basketball League Lithuanian may refer to: * Lithuanians * Lithuanian language * The country of Lithuania * Grand Duchy of Lithuania * Culture of Lithuania * Lithuanian cuisine * Lithuanian Jews as often called "Lithuanians" (''Lita'im'' or ''Litvaks'') by other Jew ...

Career statistics

College

NCAA Division I

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, 11 , , 0 , , 18.6 , , .360 , , .364 , , .762 , , 2.8 , , 1.4 , , .8 , , .2 , , 7.8 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2019–20 , style="text-align:left;",

, 28 , , 27 , , 32.8 , , .340 , , .307 , , .833 , , 3.7 , , 4.0 , , 1.2 , , .2 , , 15.3 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

, style="text-align:left;",

, 21 , , 20 , , 35.3 , , .391 , , .328 , , .658 , , 4.0 , , 4.0 , , 2.0 , , .2 , , 17.7 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 60 , , 47 , , 31.1 , , .362 , , .319 , , .744 , , 3.6 , , 3.5 , , 1.4 , , .2 , , 14.8

JUCO

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2018–19 , style="text-align:left;",

Casper Casper may refer to: People * Casper (given name) * Casper (surname) * Casper (Maya ruler) (422–487?), ruler of the Mayan city of Palenque * Tok Casper, first known king of Maya city-state Quiriguá in Guatemala, ruling beginning in 426 * David ...

, 31 , , 31 , , 28.8 , , .436 , , .365 , , .843 , , 5.5 , , 5.6 , , 1.8 , , .5 , , 21.4

Personal life

Bonton's childhood friend and former

Portland State Portland State University (PSU) is a public research university in Portland, Oregon. It was founded in 1946 as a post-secondary educational institution for World War II veterans. It evolved into a four-year college over the following two decades ...

basketball player, Deante Strickland, was shot and killed in August 2019. He dedicates every game he plays to Strickland and his late grandmother.

References

External links

Washington State Cougars bioCasper Thunderbirds bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bonton, Isaac 1998 births Living people American men's basketball players Basketball players from Portland, Oregon BC Neptūnas players BC Yambol players Casper Thunderbirds men's basketball players Washington State Cougars men's basketball players Montana State Bobcats men's basketball players Point guards