Former High Point University men’s basketball standouts Nick Barbour and Shay Shine are both beginning professional careers in Europe this week. Barbour signed to play in Spain with Ourense Baloncesto. Shine, meanwhile, will play in Switzerland with BBC Monthey.
Barbour’s team, Oursense, is based in the Galicia region of Spain and will compete in the Spanish second division LEB Oro this upcoming season. The team was promoted from LEB Plata after last year. Ourense opens up regular season play on Oct. 5 when the team takes on Palencia Baloncesto.
Barbour finished his career HPU as the program’s most prolific scorer in the team’s Division I era, with 2,212 career points. He became the second High Point player to lead the team in scoring four seasons in a row and holds program records in three-pointers in a career (314), in a season (108 in 2011-12) and in a game (10 in the 2009-10 campaign). As a senior last season, he averaged 20.4 points per game and led the nation in three-point percentage (48.4 percent).
Shine’s team, BBC Monthey, competes in the top tier of Swiss basketball, the Ligue National de Basket (LNA). Monthy is set to begin the season on Oct. 3 with an exhibition game against BBC Nyon. Monthy seeks to build on a strong 2011-12 campaign which saw the team finish second in the LNA regular season, reach the Swiss Cup finals and reach the LNA playoff semifinals.
Shine gained national attention with two dunks featured on ESPN SportsCenter’s Top 10 plays over the course of his High Point career. He set HPU single-game records for free-throw percentage (10-for-10) and three-point percentage (6-for-6). During his final season with the Panthers in 2011-12, Shine averaged 15.6 points, 5.4 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game.
