THE Mount Gambier Pioneers men’s roster continues to build, with two new Adelaide players set to join the NBL1 program.
Tom Kubank and Nik DeSantis, formally of West Adelaide and Sturt respectively, have committed to move to Mount Gambier for the upcoming NBL1 season.
Both come off impressive Premier League seasons where they competed against the Pioneers.
Kubank is a tall wing – at six-foot-seven in the old scale – and averaged 16.5 points and 6.3 rebounds per game after returning to the West Adelaide Bearcats from US college team Mary where he spent three years.
He is described as an extremely athletic and aggressive player and will look to continue his basketball development with the Pioneers.
“Tom has many hard-to-find qualities,” Pioneers head coach Richard Hill said.
“He is tall, athletic, tough and versatile and will fit nicely into our program.”
In contrast DeSantis is a six-foot-four guard who comes off a breakout season for the Sturt Sabres where he averaged 12.5 points, 2.9 rebounds and two assists in just 23 minutes of action per game.
He made 36 of his 70 three point attempts, at an impressive 51.4pc.
“This is a great situation for Nik where he can come in and learn from one of the best shooting guards in “Eze” (Erik Burdon),” Hill said.
Hill said both Kubank and DeSantis were keen to join the Pioneers before the collapse of the SEABL competition and now with the acceptance of the club into NBL1, the timing was perfect.
They will move to the Blue Lake City permanently at the end of February after training camps through January and February.
“We hope to have a couple more key signings to round out our roster before Christmas and our first camp for 2020 on January 3, 4 and 5,” Hill said.
