Damian Heath Cantrell (born May 17, 1976) is an American former professional basketball player.

High school career

Cantrell attended Santa Clara High School, where he was a standout athlete: he was named Athlete of the Year in his senior year in 1994 and received All-State Division IV honors. Coached by Lou Cvijanovich, he played both the

guard Guard or guards may refer to: Professional occupations * Bodyguard, who protects an individual from personal assault * Crossing guard, who stops traffic so pedestrians can cross the street * Lifeguard, who rescues people from drowning * Prison gu ...

and

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

positions in high school; during his junior year he was a reserve, but a growth spurt from 6 ft 1 in to 6 ft 4 in helped him improve his game, and he averaged 22.5 points and 8.4 rebounds in his last year at Santa Clara, showing remarkable rebounding skills and a good 3-point shot. Despite Cantrell's 37-point effort in the IV-A championship game, Santa Clara lost the 1994 title to Verbum Dei High School.

College career

Cantrell decided to attend

Ventura College Ventura College is a Public college, public community college in Ventura, California. Established in 1925, the college has a campus with an enrollment of 13,763 students. It is part of the Ventura County Community College District. History ...

where he was a teammate of

Rafer Alston Rafer Jamel Alston (born July 24, 1976), nicknamed "Skip 2 My Lou" after the American folk song and partner-stealing dance with the same name, is an American retired professional basketball player. Alston first gained basketball fame as a street ...

and was coached by Phil Mathews. In his freshman year he averaged 9.0 points and 7.6 rebounds and was considered the best rebounder of the Ventura team. Ventura went 37-1 during Cantrell's first season and 34-2 in his second year, and in 1995 Ventura won the State championship. In 1996 Cantrell was named in the California All-State First Team. After his sophomore year Cantrell, along with four other Ventura teammates, decided to follow coach Mathews who was hired as a coach by

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

. In his first year at San Francisco he led the team in rebounding with 209 rebounds (7.2 average)''2011-12 University of San Francisco Men's Basketball Almanac'', University of San Francisco, 2012, p. 92. and was third in the entire

West Coast Conference The West Coast Conference (WCC) — known as the California Basketball Association from 1952 to 1956 and then as the West Coast Athletic Conference until 1989 — is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with NCAA Division I consisting o ...

behind Brad Millard and Bryan Hill for total rebounds and fourth for rebounds per game. In his senior year of college he played a total of 646 minutes and earned All-WCC honors, again leading the team in rebounding with a 9.7 average. He was forced to miss a part of the season due to

mononucleosis Infectious mononucleosis (IM, mono), also known as glandular fever, is an infection usually caused by the Epstein–Barr virus (EBV). Most people are infected by the virus as children, when the disease produces few or no symptoms. In young adu ...

He was named USF Team co-MVP with Hakeem Ward. His 213 rebounds were second in the entire WCC in the 1997–98 season, behind only

Bakari Hendrix Bakari Akil Hendrix (born May 23, 1977) is a retired American basketball player. He was a standout player at Gonzaga University and played professionally in eleven countries. Hendrix, a 6'8" power forward from St. Patrick-St. Vincent High Schoo ...

of Gonzaga.

College statistics

, - , align="left" , 1996–97 , align="left" , San Francisco , 29 , , , , , , .584 , , .600 , , .586 , , 7.2 , , 1.1 , , 0.9 , , 0.3 , , 6.6 , - , align="left" , 1997–98 , align="left" , San Francisco , 22 , , , , 29.4 , , .519 , , .190 , , .574 , , 9.7 , , 1.1 , , 1.4 , , 0.4 , , 10.9 , - , align="left" , Career , align="left" , , 51 , , , , , , .545 , , .269 , , .580 , , 8.3 , , 1.1 , , 1.1 , , 0.4 , , 8.4 , -

Professional career

After the end of his college career Cantrell was automatically eligible for the

1998 NBA draft The 1998 NBA draft took place on June 24, 1998, at General Motors Place in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. This draft helped turn around four struggling franchises: the Dallas Mavericks, the Sacramento Kings, the Boston Celtics, and the Tor ...

but he went undrafted. He signed for

Argentine Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...

club Echagüe in 1998 but he played limited minutes (5.6 per game) and averaged 1.5 points per game and 0.6 rebounds. After playing for the

Las Vegas Silver Bandits The Las Vegas Silver Bandits were a team in the International Basketball League (IBL). They played at the Thomas and Mack Center in Paradise, Nevada in 1999. The team president was Michael A. Olsen. The V.P. of Basketball Operations was Cindy H ...

in the 2000–01

International Basketball League The International Basketball League (IBL) was a semi-professional men's basketball league featuring teams from the West Coast of the United States. In 2010 the Albany Legends became the first team in the Northeastern United States to join. The ...

season, where he averaged 9.1 points and 6.7 rebounds, he had a very successful stint at Ben Hur, where in 32 games he averaged 21.3 points and 11.0 rebounds, playing 35.1 minutes per game and he was one of the key players in the 2001–02 Torneo Nacional de Ascenso season won by Ben Hur. In 2002 he joined the Yakima SunKings of the Continental Basketball Association and he had a successful season: he started 32 of his 34 games, averaging 16.2 points and 12.8 rebounds while shooting 56.4% from the field (46% from three) and 78.2% from the free throw lime in the regular season, and in 5 playoffs games he averaged 18.4 points and 10.8 rebounds. His 434 regular season rebounds placed him 4th in the entire CBA. His remarkable season with the Yakima SunKings earned him the

Continental Basketball Association Newcomer of the Year Award The Continental Basketball Association Newcomer of the Year was an award given to the best player in the CBA who had prior professional basketball experience, but was new to the league. The award was known as the Eastern Basketball Association Newco ...

and All-CBA First Team honors. He then moved to

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

, where he played for Guaiqueríes de Margarita. The

New York Knicks The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the Na ...

signed Cantrell for the 2003 Reebok Pro Summer League but did not keep him in the final roster for the

2003–04 NBA season The 2003–04 NBA season was the 58th season of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The season ended with the Detroit Pistons defeating the Los Angeles Lakers 4–1 in the 2004 NBA Finals. The 2003–04 NBA season was the culmination of ...

. Cantrell then went to the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

, signing for Talk 'N Text Phone Pals,where he also had a 52-point game during the season. He played the rest of the 2003–04 season in

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

with Banco di Sardegna Sassari, appearing in 18 games with averages of 13.5 points and 7.4 rebounds. In 2004 he went back to the United States to play for the Orange County Crush, while in 2005 he played again for Talk 'N Text Phone Pals in the Philippines. In 2006 he moved to

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

and signed for Blue Stars, competing in the

2007 WABA Champions Cup The WABA Champions Cup 2007 was the 10th staging of the WABA Champions Cup, the basketball club tournament of West Asia Basketball Association. The tournament was held in Aleppo, Syria between April 1 and April 9. The top four teams from different c ...

. He then transferred to Okapi Aalstar in

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

where he experienced two successful seasons: he led the Belgian Division I in rebounding in the 2008–09 season with a 9.4 average. After playing for

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

team Zain, he signed for La Unión of Argentina, where he played his last season in professional basketball averaging 7.3 points and 6.9 rebounds in 12 games.

References

External links

Career stats at ProBallers.comProfile at RealGM.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cantrell, Damian 1976 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in Argentina American expatriate basketball people in Belgium American expatriate basketball people in Italy American expatriate basketball people in Jordan American expatriate basketball people in Lebanon American expatriate basketball people in the Philippines American expatriate basketball people in Venezuela American men's basketball players Basketball players from Ventura County, California Ben Hur basketball players Guaiqueríes de Margarita players La Unión basketball players Las Vegas Silver Bandits players Okapi Aalstar players Power forwards San Francisco Dons men's basketball players Sportspeople from Oxnard, California TNT Tropang 5G players Ventura Pirates men's basketball players Yakima Sun Kings players Zain Club basketball players Atlético Echagüe players