Bradley University Athletics

Malevy Leons Signs with Bradley Basketball

Men's Basketball 5/4/2021 3:34:00 PM

One of the nation's top junior college and international prospects is joining the Bradley basketball program as Malevy Leons (IJmuiden, Netherlands) signed with the Braves on Tuesday.

"Malevy checks off a huge box for us and is a great fit for our program," said Bradley head coach Brian Wardle. "He is a great young man who makes everyone around him better. He is an athletic and skilled forward who will be a match-up problem for our opponents. Malevy, like all of our incoming players, wants to train and act to be a professional on and off the court."

Leons is coming off a campaign where he led Mineral Area College to its best season in program history. The Cardinals finished the regular season with a perfect 20-0 record before claiming the Region 16 and Midwest District Championships. He then guided Mineral Area to the program's first-ever victory at the NJCAA Tournament, earning All-Tournament Team honors as the Cardinals advanced to the Elite 8.

The 6-foot-10 forward led the team with 18.7 points and 9.5 rebounds in 2020-21 – finishing the season ranked 37th nationally in points and 25th in rebounds. Leons shot 56.4 percent during his standout campaign, while also adding 3.1 assists, 2.0 blocks and 1.1 steals per game.

A native of IJmuiden, Netherlands, Leons was named the Region 16 Player of the Year, while collecting first-team all-region and all-conference accolades. Overall, Leons keyed the Cardinals to a 54-3 record during his two seasons on campus – the team's most wins in any two-year span in program history – scoring 886 points and shooting 58.6 percent from the field, while collecting 449 rebounds, 138 assists and 117 blocks.

Leons has also enjoyed a lot of success at the international level. He played for Netherlands at both the 2018 and 2019 FIBA U20 European Championships – averaging 10.4 points and 6.3 rebounds during the eight-game 2019 tournament. He also spent two seasons in the Dutch Basketball League – averaging 6.3 points and 4.3 rebounds in 32 games with Apollo Amsterdam during the 2018-19 campaign.

Leons joins a Bradley program that has won two of the last three Missouri Valley Conference Tournament titles. He is the fifth student-athlete to sign with the Braves for the 2021-22 campaign – joining Maxime Ekono (Nanterre, France/Scotland Campus), Connor Hickman (Bloomington, Ind./Bloomington South), Mikey Howell (San Marco, Calif./UC San Diego) and Terry Roberts (Amityville, N.Y./Florida SouthWestern State).

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