After an accomplished four-year career for the Boston University men’s basketball team, Carlos Strong added another career milestone to his resume Oct. 30 as his Puerto Rican national men’s basketball team captured the gold medal at the Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico.
Playing alongside NBA players like Dallas Mavericks point guard Jose Juan Barea and New York Knicks forward Renaldo Balkman, Strong started in both the semifinal and championship games, the latter of which Puerto Rico won against tournament host Mexico 74-72.
Strong, a 2010 Metropolitan College graduate, played 13 minutes in the championship game and pulled down a rebound. In Puerto Rico’s 85-77 semifinal win over a Dominican Republic team coached by University of Kentucky coach John Calipari, Strong made his first start of the five-day tournament, scoring seven points and pulling down two rebounds in 30 minutes of action.
Puerto Rico’s gold medal in the eight-team tournament was the nation’s first since 1991.
While at BU, Strong was a four-year letter-winner from 2006-10, averaging double-figures in points in both his sophomore and senior seasons. After an injury-plagued junior season in which he missed 18 games, Strong averaged 10.9 points and 4.6 rebounds per game while shooting 47.2 percent from 3-point range his final year on Commonwealth Avenue.
Additionally, he collected 2010 America East Conference All-Defensive team honors and ended his college career with 1,038 points.
Strong’s former BU backcourt mate John Holland is also on the Puerto Rican team, having played for it in the FIBA Americas Championship in August, but he was unable to participate in the Pan American Games because of a conflicting schedule with his current professional team, Chorale de Roanne of the France Pro A Division.
Following his Pan American performance, Strong will now attempt to get a roster spot on Puerto Rico’s Olympic Qualifying team that will be competing for one of three remaining spots for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.
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