Ekene Ibekwe

Ekene ( Ekenechukwu ) Ibekwe (born 19 July 1985 in Los Angeles, California) is a native American professional basketball player who competes internationally for the homeland of his parents Nigeria. After studying in his native country Ibekwe played primarily in Israel, Turkey, and in the German Basketball Bundesliga. At the 2006 World Cup, he was in the second round for the Nigerian national team with 22 points best scorer in the scarce Einpunktniederlage against Germany. With the national team, he also took part in its Olympic debut at the 2012 Olympic Games.

Ibekwe studied at the University of Maryland, College Park and played for the high school team Terrapins from 2003 in the NCAA Division I. In his senior year in 2007 reached the Terps, who in 2002 won the national finals had been, the second round of the national championship. In the 2007 NBA Draft Ibekwe was disregarded. In the following years he was so unsuccessful in securing a season contract in the most highly endowed American professional league NBA on engagements in the NBA Summer League.

After studying Ibekwe signed a contract in 2007 as a professional at Hapoel Galil Elyon in the Israeli Ligat ha Al. The contract was terminated before the season starts and he moved to league rivals Hapoel Gilboa / Afula, where he played with his comrades experienced national Tunji Awojobi. The less successful gaming community of the two workers' associations, which at the end of the season was Table and was disbanded, Ibekwe left at the end of the season and joined the French LNB Pro B to Basket Comte Doubs, Besancon. The club won a major round of eight of the French second division play-off and secured the remaining promotion place in the first division. Ibekwe, however, joined the following season and played in Turkey in Konya Selçuk Üniversitesi. After five successive defeats end of the season the club still slipped from the penultimate place in the table and got down from the TBL. After a stint in 2009 in the Puerto Rican Baloncesto Superior Nacional summer league, he returned to Turkey and played in the second division. In August 2010 he signed a contract with the then Artland Dragons in the German BBL, which was already finished but back in December. After one month contract in the Israeli Ashkelon he returned in February 2011, already back in the BBL back and helped the newly promoted BBC Bayreuth at relegation in the German top flight, after which his contract was extended through the end of season addition. Although he completed only less than half of the season games for the BBC, he was named to an Internet Voting for BBC Player of the Year. More than avoiding relegation was not possible in the following season. With the Nigerian national team, however Ibekwe could qualify to an additional qualifying tournament for the 2012 Olympics in London, where one was eliminated in the first round after a win in five games. Ibekwe then changed for the following season 2012/13 in the Spanish ACB League club Lagun Aro GBC for Basque in San Sebastian in Guipuzcoa Province.