Former New Mexico State star Jonathan Gibson poured in 55 points for the Qingdao Eagles in a 119-106 loss to the Jiangsu Dragons in the Chinese Basketball Association.
The 6-2 guard made 8 threes, while shooting a blistering 62 percent from the field (16-of-26) and making 15-of-16 from the line.
Gibson also had 6 assists and 5 rebounds in the game.
For Jiangsu, MarShon Brooks (Providence) had 42 points, 9 assists, and 5 steals in the win.
But the star of the game was Gibson, who is fifth in the CBA in scoring this season, averaging 34.3 points, 5.5 rebounds and 4.1 assists for Qingdao.
He comes from the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks, where he averaged 6.2 points, 1.5 assists, and 13.6 minutes in 17 games last season.
The Mavs signed Gibson last fall after averaging nearly 19 points for their summer league team, but cut him in December to sign Pierre Jackson (Baylor) from the D-League’s Texas Legends.
Gibson had played the previous season in the China CBA, averaging a whopping 42 points, along with 6.7 rebounds and 5.1 assists for the Qingdao Eagles.
It wasn’t the first time that Gibson has been a big-time scorer in China. In 2013-14 he averaged 32.3 points in 35 games for the CBA’s Zhejiang.
A star at New Mexico State, Gibson led the team in scoring as a senior in 2009-10, averaging 17.5 points and guiding the team to a 22-12 record and the NCAA tournament.
He graduated second all-time in games played, sixth in points scored, second in thee-pointers made.
In 2011, Gibson played in Turkey, leading the league in scoring while averaging 20 points a game for Trabzonspor.
He has also played overseas in Israel and Italy.
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