Mark Steven Lyons (born July 4, 1989) 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 court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

player for Elitzur Ashkelon of the Israeli National League. He played college basketball for Xavier and

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

before playing professionally in France, Croatia, Israel, Turkey, China, Russia, Lebanon and Italy. Lyons won the Israeli League championship with Maccabi Rishon LeZion in 2016. He was the top scorer in the Israel Basketball Premier League in both 2015 and 2017.

College career

Lyons

redshirted Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

his freshman year at Xavier. In three seasons at Xavier, Lyons was on two Sweet 16 teams and two Atlantic 10 Conference champions and scored almost 1,200 career points. As a junior, Lyons averaged 15.1 points and 2.8 assists per game while shooting 39.2 percent from behind the arc. He was suspended for two games due to his involvement in the 2011 Crosstown Shootout brawl. In May 2012, Lyons announced that he was transferring to

for his final collegiate season. Arizona's coach,

Sean Miller Sean Edward Miller (born November 17, 1968) is an American college basketball coach who currently serves as head coach of the Xavier Musketeers. He previously was in that position from 2004 to 2009, after which he took the head coach position f ...

, had previously coached Xavier and had recruited Lyons to the school. He was named Pac-12 Player of the Week on January 21, 2013. Lyons was selected to the Pac-12 All-Conference First Team in his only season at Arizona after averaging a team-high 14.9 points and 2.97 assists per game.

Professional career

2013–14 season

After going undrafted in the 2013 NBA draft, Lyons joined the

Toronto Raptors The Toronto Raptors are a Canadian professional basketball team based in Toronto. The Raptors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. They play their home games a ...

for the

2013 NBA Summer League The 2013 NBA Summer League is a pro basketball league run by the NBA just after the 2013 NBA draft. It gives newly drafted players a chance to test their skills against each other, and to give them a feel for professional basketball. All 30 NBA ...

. On July 7, 2013, he signed a one-year deal with Chorale Roanne of the LNB Pro A. However, on January 9, 2014, he parted ways with Roanne after appearing in 14 games. He later signed with

Zadar Zadar ( , ; historically known as Zara (from Venetian and Italian: ); see also other names), is the oldest continuously inhabited Croatian city. It is situated on the Adriatic Sea, at the northwestern part of Ravni Kotari region. Zadar ser ...

of Croatia for the rest of the season on February 10. In 14 league games for Zadar, he averaged 17.1 points, 2.6 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game.

2014–15 season

On September 9, 2014, Lyons signed with Spirou Charleroi of the

Belgian Pro League The Belgian Pro League,(officially the Jupiler Pro League due to sponsorship reasons with Jupiler), is the top league competition for association football clubs in Belgium. Contested by 18 clubs since the 2020–21 season and reduced to 16 tea ...

. On October 7, 2014, Lyons parted ways with Charleroi before appearing in a game of them. One day later, Lyons signed a one-year deal with

Ironi Nahariya Ironi Nahariya Basketball Club ( he, מועדון הכדורסל עירוני נהריה; ) known for sponsorship reasons as Ironi Rain Nahariya () is a professional basketball club based in city of Nahariya in northern Israel. The team plays in th ...

of the

Israeli Premier League The Israeli Premier League ( he, ליגת העל, ''Ligat Ha`Al'', ), is a professional association football league which operates as the highest division of the Israeli Football League – the state's league of Israel. The league is contested b ...

. On March 3, 2015, Lyons participated in the Israeli League All-Star game and won the Slam Dunk contest during the same event. In 33 games played for Nahariya, he led the league in scoring with 18.4 points, to go with 2.8 rebounds, 4.7 assists and 1.9 steals per game.

2015–16 season

On July 25, 2015, Lyons signed with Maccabi Rishon LeZion for the 2015–16 season. On January 31, 2016, Lyons recorded a double-double with a season-high 29 points and 11 assists, shooting 12-of-20 from the field, along with three rebounds in a 94–100 loss to

Maccabi Tel Aviv Maccabi Tel Aviv ( he, מכבי תל אביב) is one of the largest sports clubs in Israel, and a part of the Maccabi association. Many sports clubs and teams in Tel Aviv are in association with Maccabi and compete in a variety of sports, such ...

. In 54 games played during the 2015–16 season, he averaged 16.5 points, 2.2 rebounds and 4.8 assists per game. Lyons won the 2016 Israeli League championship title with Rishon LeZion.

2016–17 season

On August 1, 2016, Lyons signed a one-year deal with Muratbey Uşak Sportif of the

Turkish Super League Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities an ...

. On December 8, 2016, he parted ways with Uşak after averaging 14.8 points and 6.9 assists in BSL and 16.1 points and 5.9 assists in the

FIBA Champions League The Basketball Champions League (BCL) is an annual professional basketball competition for European clubs, organised by FIBA. It is the top-level competition organised by FIBA Europe, therefore the champion participates in the FIBA Intercontin ...

. On December 27, 2016, Lyons returned to Israel for a second stint, signing with Hapoel Tel Aviv for the rest of the season. On February 19, 2017, Lyons recorded a season-high 35 points, shooting 8-of-11 from three-point range, along with four rebounds and six assists in a 92–71 win over his former team

. In 21 games played for Hapoel, he led the league in scoring for the second time in three years by averaging 20.1 points per game.

2017–18 season

On June 9, 2017, Lyons signed with Guizhou of China for the 2017 NBL season. On August 13, 2017, Lyons recorded a career-high 60 points, shooting 12-of-18 from three-point range, along with eight assists in a 136–129 win over Henan. In 26 games played for Guizhou, he averaged 35.3 points, 4.2 rebounds and 4.8 assists per game. On July 15, 2017, Lyons returned to Turkey for a second stint, signing a one-year deal with

Gaziantep Basketbol Gaziantep Basketbol is a professional basketball team based in the city of Gaziantep in Turkey that plays in the Turkish Basketball Super League. Their home arena is the Karataş Şahinbey Sport Hall with a capacity of 6,400 seats. History The ...

. On October 28, 2017, Lyons recorded a season-high 30 points, shooting 11-of-17 from the field, along with five rebounds and three assists in a 118–119 double-overtime loss to

Eskişehir Basket Eskişehir Basket was a professional basketball team based in the city of Eskişehir in Turkey. Their home arena was the Anadolu Üniversitesi Sport Hall with a capacity of 5,000 seats. Founded in 2006, the club played in the highest tier Basket ...

. On January 17, 2018, Lyons parted ways with Gaziantep to join

Enisey The Yenisey (russian: Енисе́й, ''Yeniséy''; mn, Горлог мөрөн, ''Gorlog mörön''; Buryat: Горлог мүрэн, ''Gorlog müren''; Tuvan: Улуг-Хем, ''Uluğ-Hem''; Khakas: Ким суғ, ''Kim suğ''; Ket: Ӄук, ...

for the rest of the season.

2018–19 season

On August 9, 2018, Lyons signed a one-year deal with

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. ...

of the Lebanese League. In 12 games played for Al Riyadi, he averaged an impressive 17.6 points per game, along with 3.1 assists per game. Lyons won the 2018 Lebanese Supercup title with Al Riyadi. On February 19, 2019, Lyons parted ways with Al Riyadi Beirut to join VL Pesaro of Italy for the rest of the season.

2019–20 season

On September 29, 2019, Lyons returned to Hapoel Tel Aviv for a second stint, signing a one-year deal. He averaged 11.6 points, 1.8 rebounds, 5.1 assists and 1.2 steals per game.

2020–21 season

On September 25, 2020, Lyons signed with the

Piratas de Quebradillas The Piratas de Quebradillas is a Puerto Rican basketball team, part of the Baloncesto Superior Nacional league. Founded in the mid 1920s, it is one of the original teams of the league. The club enjoyed its most successful era during the 1970s, ...

of the

Baloncesto Superior Nacional The Baloncesto Superior Nacional, abbreviated as BSN, is the first-tier-level professional men's basketball league in Puerto Rico. It was founded in 1929 and is organized by the Puerto Rican Basketball Federation. The Baloncesto Superior Naci ...

. On March 3, 2021, Lyons signed with Greek club

Charilaos Trikoupis Charilaos Trikoupis ( el, Χαρίλαος Τρικούπης; 11 July 1832 – 30 March 1896) was a Greek politician who served as a Prime Minister of Greece seven times from 1875 until 1895. He is best remembered for introducing the vote of c ...

for the rest of the season, replacing Devonte Green. He averaged 13.6 points, 3.1 assists, and 2.1 rebounds per game.

2021–22 season

On July 30, 2021, Lyons signed with Balıkesir Büyükşehir Belediye of the

Turkish Basketball First League The Turkish Basketball First League, also called TBL, is the second-tier level league of professional club basketball in Turkey. The league was previously known as Turkish Basketball Second League (TB2L). Format and promotion and relegation The ...

(TBL). He averaged 21.5 points, 6.4 assists, and 2.6 rebounds per game. On February 22, 2022, Lyons signed with Elitzur Ashkelon of the Israeli National League.

The Basketball Tournament

Mark Lyons played for Team Fancy in the 2018 edition of

The Basketball Tournament The Basketball Tournament (TBT) is an open-application, single-elimination tournament played each summer in the United States. The 2022 edition features 64 teams with a $1 million winner-take-all prize, broadcast by ESPN. TBT was founded in 20 ...

. In 2 games, he averaged 8 points, 1.5 assists, and 1.5 rebounds per game. Team Fancy reached the second round before falling to Boeheim's Army. Lyons is currently playing for Team Zip Em Up with other Xavier alumni in the 2021 tournament.

References

External links