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Luke Dean Schenscher (born 31 December 1982) is an Australian professional basketball player currently playing for the Perth Wildcats in the NBL.

Early career

The son of German migrants, Schenscher was born and raised in Hope Forest, South Australia, and played three years of basketball with the Australian Institute of Sport. He became the first high school player to represent the Boomers, the Australian men's basketball team.

He attended the Georgia Institute of Technology, commonly referred to as Georgia Tech, from 2001 to 2005, starting a majority of his career at the center position, and in the 2003–04 season along with Indiana Pacer Jarrett Jack was a member of the Yellow Jackets team which played in the NCAA championship game against the Connecticut Huskies where he received all Final Four Team honors.

Professional career

After college, Schenscher attempted to make an NBA roster, and was a member of the Denver Nuggets and Sacramento Kings 2005–06 pre-season rosters. He signed to the Fort Worth Flyers to play in the NBA D-League, ranking in the top 50 players for points per game and top 20 for rebounds per game. He signed a 10-day contract with the Chicago Bulls on 5 March, 2006 becoming the third Australian to play for the Bulls.^[1] He played 12 minutes, scored 4 points and grabbed 1 rebound in his first game. He earned a second 10-day contract as soon as the first expired and was then signed for the rest of the season.^[1]

It was widely believed Schenscher was to sign with the South Dragons to play in the National Basketball League as the team's first contracted player for the 2006–07 season. ^[2] This did not happen and Joe Ingles was signed by the Dragons while Schenscher was with Chicago. On 17 July, 2006 power forward Darius Songaila left Chicago to join the Washington Wizards in a $23m deal, opening up the possibility of Schenscher having a more prominent role on the Bulls, however on 30 October 2006, one day before the beginning of the 2006-07 NBA season, the Bulls waived him.^[3] He returned to the Flyers for the 2006-07 D-League season.

In March 2007, Schenscher was signed to a 10-day contract by the Portland Trail Blazers, who at that time had lost several big men (Joel Przybilla, Raef LaFrentz) to injury. On March 24, his stay with the Trail Blazers was extended with a second 10-day contract.^[4] At the end of the second 10-day contract the Trail Blazers decided to sign Schenscher for the remainder of the season.^[5]

During the 2007 offseason, he signed a one-year contract with the reigning German champions, Brose Baskets.^[6] As the son of German emigrants, he is eligible for a German passport and therefore not subject to any restrictions on non-EU nationals in the German league. Later, he was waived due to his injury.

On April 15, 2008, The Adelaide 36ers confirmed that they had agreed to terms with Schenscher for a one-year deal.^[7] Adelaide coach Scott Ninnis was ecstatic with the signing of Schensher: "I've received nothing but positive remarks from the public about the current direction of the club, and I am certain there are exciting times ahead. Luke only compliments [sic] the group we already have in place and anytime you add a player over 7 feet tall with NBA experience, he's going to have an impact".^[7] Schenscher averaged 17 points and 11 rebounds for the season. Receiving player of the week honours twice and player of the month for jan/feb. He had 19 points and 18 rebounds against Sydney, went up against Australian Boomer and ex NBA player Chris Anstey and had 17 points and 22 rebounds in one game and 21 points and 15 rebounds in another, he also hit 37 Points and 15 Rebounds against Wollongong and if that was not enough he poured in a massive 33 points 20 rebounds against Perth. He is the first player in the NBL to record at least 30 points and 20 rebounds in a game since Mark Bradtke did way back in 1992.

In early September 2009, Schenscher signed a deal to join the Perth Wildcats of the Australian NBL for the upcoming 2009/10 season.[1] The addition has proved pivotal early on in the season, with fellow big-man, veteran Paul Rogers, succumbing to a serious elbow injury less than a month into the season, leaving a big void in the middle for Schenscher to fill.

References

External links

• NBA.com Profile - Luke Schenscher
• D-League profile
• Georgia Tech profile
• Luke Schenscher Profile
• [2]