Friday, September 16, 2011

MACON, Ga. – Former Mercer University men’s basketball standout Brian Mills (Douglasville, Ga.) has signed a professional contract with Lusitania Angra Patrimonio Mundial of the Portuguese LPB league. Lusitania – located in the Azores – is one of 12 teams in Portugal’s top pro league.

Mills joins two other American players – former University of Rhode Island player Momplasir Marcel and California-Riverside’s Terrance Hundley – on Lusitania’s roster.

“This is a great and well-deserved opportunity for Brian,” MU head coach Bob Hoffman said. “His work ethic is second to none and he is very coachable. I believe his ‘blue collar’ style will be something which will catch the eye of both the coaches – as well as the fans – of Team Lusitania.”

As a senior in 2010-11, Mills had a career year. The 6-7 forward was a first team All-Atlantic Sun Conference selection, as well as being named to the A-Sun’s all-tournament team after leading the No. 5-seed Bears to the semi-final game. Mills averaged 16.2 points and 6.0 rebounds per game, hitting 45.6 percent from the field and 72.2 percent from the free throw stripe.

Mills finished his four-year career in the Orange & Black with 1,138 points to rank No. 20 on MU’s all-time scoring list. As a senior, he became just the 35th member of Mercer’s 1,000-Point club.

Mills is the sixth former Bears’ player – along with Calvin Henry (2009), Sidiki Straub (2009), Daniel Emerson (2010), E.J. Kusnyer (2010) and James Florence (2010) - to sign a professional basketball contract in Hoffman’s three previous seasons at Mercer.

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