Gabrielius Maldūnas

Gabrielius Maldūnas

Maldunas playing for the Big Green
No. 15 Palencia Baloncesto
Position Power forward
League LEB Oro
Personal information
Born (1993-04-19) April 19, 1993
Panevėžys, Lithuania
Nationality Lithuanian
Listed height 205 cm (6 ft 9 in)
Listed weight 105 kg (231 lb)
Career information
High school Holderness School
(Holderness, New Hampshire)
College Dartmouth (2011–2015)
NBA draft 2015 / Undrafted
Playing career 2015–present
Career history
20152016 CB Peñas Huesca
2016present Palencia Baloncesto
Career highlights and awards

Gabrielius Maldūnas (born 19 April 1993) also known as Gabas is a Lithuanian professional basketball player who plays as a power forward for Quesos Cerrato Palencia in LEB Oro.[1] He graduated from Dartmouth College in 2015.

Early life and high school

Gabrielius Maldūnas was born in Panevėžys, Lithuania where he went to school and played basketball until 2008. In the summer of 2008, after finishing 9th grade in Juozas Balčikonis Gymnasium he went to the US to study and play basketball at Holderness School. He played there for three years and each year his team made the NEPSAC playoffs, reaching the finals once. His senior year of high school Gabas was the captain of the team and averaged 18 points and 8 rebounds.

In January during his senior year of high school, Gabas committed to Dartmouth College to play Division 1 basketball in the Ivy League for coach Paul Cormier.

At Holderness, Gabas also played soccer and lacrosse and for his leadership skills was elected as a dorm leader by his fellow students.

College career

Gabas had a very successful career at Dartmouth College, appearing in 102 games and starting in 91 of them for the Big Green.[2] He is one of four Ivy League players to ever score 1,000 points, and record over 700 rebounds, 100 assists, 100 blocks and 100 steals.

During his sophomore year Gabas was selected to the All-Ivy second team. In the last 8 games of the season he averaged 15 points and 9 rebounds. He continued playing strong during his junior year, but his season was cut short due to an ACL injury on January 20, 2014.[3]

He came back for his senior year and helped the Big Green achieve their best record since 1998-1999 season. He was selected to the All-Ivy second team for the second time in his career along with his teammate Alex Mitola. Maldunas' game-winning shot in the last game of the season against Yale was on SC Top 10 and it helped the Big Green to get invited to the first post season tournament since 1959. However, they lost to Canisius in the first round of the CIT Tournament.

Gabas finished his Dartmouth career 22nd on the scoring list, 3rd in career blocked shots and 4th in rebounds. He was the first Dartmouth player in 56 years to record 1,000 points and 700 rebounds and only the second ever to record 100 career blocks and 100 steals.

In June 2015 he graduated with an Economics degree and went on to play professional basketball in Europe.

Professional career

CB Peñas Huesca

Maldunas shooting a free throw

On 28 August 2015 Maldunas signed to play in the second-tier league in Spain for CB Peñas Huesca.

During the regular season he averaged 10 points and 6.6 rebounds while helping a very young and unexperienced Peñas team record 16 wins and 14 losses and make the playoffs as the 7th seed.

In the playoffs the Peñas made it all the way to the finals after beating Oviedo CB 3-1 in the first round and CB Miraflores also 3-1 in the semifinals. However, playing with injuries and against Club Melilla Baloncesto - an opponent with significantly more experience did not end well for Peñas and the team lost the series 3-0.

Palencia Baloncesto

On July 7th, 2016, Maldūnas signed with the 2016 LEB Oro champions Palencia Baloncesto.

Personal life

While at Dartmouth, Maldunas was a member of Beta Alpha Omega fraternity and Sphinx Senior Society. He is fluent in Lithuanian and English, but can also speak Spanish.

References

  1. "CB Penas incorporate Maldunas". cbphuesca.com. 30 August 2015. Retrieved 29 March 2016.
  2. "Gabas Maldunas". dartmouthsports.com. Retrieved 30 March 2016.
  3. "Dartmouth's Gabas Maldunas will miss rest of season". nbcsports.com. Retrieved 31 March 2016.
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