Wilmington University’s Men’s basketball all-time leading scorer Tyaire Ponzo-Meek is going pro, he signed with the Ascherleben Tigers in Aschersleben, Germany which was made official on July 9th.
The Ascherleben Tigers are a part of the Regionalliga North Division which is the fourth tier of the German basketball league system.
Ponzo-Meek will get his first chance to play for the Tigers when their 2017-2018 season starts on September 23rd.
Ascherleben Tigers Coach Christian Schäfer said this about the addition of Tyaire Ponzo-Meek:
“Tyaire was in high school a pass-first point guard. So he mainly looked for his teammates. When he then switched to a relatively small college, he had to take a great scorer role. The fact that he has learned to play these two aspects of the point guard position makes him valuable for our part. I do not have much to worry about. He will get into our family well and quickly. Hard workers are always very welcome with us.”
Ponzo-Meek who is one of the brightest stars to come from Wilmington University’s Men basketball program has plenty of accolades and stats to prove he deserves a chance in the pros.
As a Wildcat Ponzo-Meek became the first player in the program’s history to be named First Team All-Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference performer twice and the only WilmU player to be named CACC Player of the Year. Ponzo-Meek was the first Wilmington University Men’s basketball player to earn an All-Region selection when he was named to First Team D2CCA All-East Region earlier this year. The former Wildcat was named CACC player of the week multiple times during his career at Wilmington.
Related: Wilmington University’s Ponzo-Meek Named Player of the Year, Two others honored for All-CACC Awards
The Wilmington, Delaware native’s freshman year at WilmU he played in 25 games and started 2. Ponzo-Meek finished seventh in scoring on the team that year with 5.1 points per game.
By his Sophomore year, Ponzo-Meek was in the starting lineup on a more regular basis by starting in 26 out of 29 games he played. The former Wilmington guard led the Wildcats in scoring with 15.1 points per game and was 9th in the CACC. The man was a scoring machine scoring in double digits in all but six games that season. Ponzo-Meek was second on the team with 44 made three-pointers.
In his Junior year, Ponzo-Meek started in 27 out of 28 games he played and led the team and the entire East Region (CACC, ECC, and NE-10 Conferences) in scoring with 23.6 points per game. The former Wilmington guard finished second in the CACC and fourth in the East region with 57 steals on the season. The former Wildcat was also a passing machine with 107 assists on the season, which was the fourth best in the CACC. Ponzo-Meek could not be stopped point-wise either, scoring in double-digits in all 28 games in his junior season. The Wilmington guard scored 20 or more points in 21 games and 30 or more in six games that season.
In his Senior season, Ponzo-Meek continued to have the hot touch when came to scoring, by averaging 20.3 points per game which were first on WilmU and 3rd in the CACC. Ponzo-Meek added to his career total of scoring 10 or more points in 63 consecutive games in his senior season. On the defensive side of the ball, the Howard high school alum was 5th in the CACC with 51 steals. Ponzo-Meek led the Wildcats to their program’s best season with a 19-10 record and going 14-5 in the CACC. The Wildcats earned the 2nd seed in the CACC tournament and hosted the program’s first playoff game.
Overall in his college career, Ponzo-Meek is the all-time leading scorer in Wilmington’s history with 1,808 points and the all-time steals leader with 174. The former Wilmington Guard finished 2nd in assists with 336 and rebounds with 533 in his career at Wilmington University.
Ponzo-Meek was pretty good in high school too, as he led Howard High School to the DIAA State Championship as a senior and hit the game-winning shot. The Howard player was named the DIAA State Championship Game MVP.
“Aschersleben was not my only offer, but after talking to the coach, I felt like I could help the team. Right after the meeting I was sure that my dream of playing basketball professionally in Germany will come true and the first capital of my story starts in Aschersleben, “Ponzo-Meek told Aschersleben’s official site.
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