Kempton named one of 10 finalists for Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year Award

Courtesy of LehighSports.com

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – After being named one of 20 candidates in the nation for the prestigious Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award in October, senior Tim Kempton is one of just 10 student-athletes to be named a finalist, as announced by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on Friday. Kempton joins centers from UCLA, Gonzaga, Georgia, Washington, Wisconsin and more in the running for the Center of the Year award.

Others named finalists include Eric Mika (Brigham Young), Taco Fall (Central Florida), Justin Patton (Creighton), Yante Maten (Georgia), Przemek Karnowski (Gonzaga), Jock Landale (Saint Mary’s), Thomas Welsh (UCLA), Josh Hawkinson (Washington State) and Ethan Happ (Wisconsin).

A national committee comprised of top college basketball personnel determined the watch list of 20 candidates in October, which has now been narrowed to 10.

A two-time Patriot League Player of the Year, Kempton is in the midst of another tremendous season, continuing to improve in practically every statistical category. For the fourth straight year, Kempton has improved his scoring and rebounding averages, currently standing at 20.5 and 10.0, which is good for 26th and 22nd in the nation, respectively. Kempton has 12 double-doubles this season, good for 15th nationally, while he’s shooting 55.7 percent from the field which is top 50 nationally. So far this season, Kempton has been named Patriot League Player of the Week a record-tying six times. He has reached 30 points on four occasions, led by a career-high 36 vs. American last month.

Kempton currently stands fifth in school history with 1,840 career points and second with 982 career rebounds. He is also seventh in Patriot League history in career points.

As a freshman, Kempton averaged 13.0 points and 7.1 rebounds to earn Patriot League Rookie of the Year laurels. He went on to average 15.3 points and 8.7 boards as a sophomore then 17.7 points and 9.5 rebounds as a junior. Kempton posted 13 double-doubles in his junior campaign, good for 47th nationally, including a stretch of eight double-doubles in nine games which helped spring Lehigh to its 11-game winning streak. Kempton was named an NABC first team All-District honoree as both a sophomore and junior, and was also named the team’s Athlete of the Year each of the last two seasons.

In March, five finalists will be presented to Mr. Abdul-Jabbar and the Hall of Fame’s selection committee for the 2017 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year Award. The winner of the 2017 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award will be presented at ESPN’s College Basketball Awards, presented by Wendy’s, live from The Novo by Microsoft in downtown Los Angeles on Friday, April 7, 2017. Broadcast information will be released at a later date.

Kempton and the Mountain Hawks return to action on Saturday when they head to Washington, D.C. to face American University at 1 p.m. Lehigh returns home next Wednesday to host Bucknell at 7 p.m.