Earnest Lewis Clinch Jr. (born June 29, 1987) is an American former professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player. He won the Icelandic Basketball Cup with Grindavík in 2014 en led the team to the Úrvalsdeild finals in 2014 and 2017, where it lost to KR both times.

Playing career

College career

Clinch played college basketball for

Georgia Tech The Georgia Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Georgia Tech, GT, and simply Tech or the Institute) is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Established in 1885, it has the lar ...

from 2005 to 2009. In 93 games he averaged 11.3 points per game. During his senior season, he started all 24 games and averaged 15.5 points, 3.5 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game.

Club career

His first professional stop was with the

Austin Spurs The Austin Spurs are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Cedar Park, Texas, and are affiliated with the San Antonio Spurs. The team plays their home games at H-E-B Center at Cedar Park. The team has made the po ...

of the

D-League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is a professional basketball league in North America that serves as the developmental league of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The league comprises 31 teams; as of the 2024–25 season, ...

where he played from 2009 until he was waived by the club in February 2011. He was shortly later picked up by the

Maine Red Claws The Maine Celtics are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Portland, Maine, and are affiliated with the Boston Celtics. The Maine Celtics play their home games at the Portland Expo Building. The Boston Celtics pu ...

, where he finished the season. He spent 2011–2012 season with Hapoel Lev Hasharon in Israel's National League and averaged 22.7 ppg and 4.9 rpg in 18 games. He left the team in February 2012 and signed with

Caciques de Humacao Caciques de Humacao was a professional basketball team based in Humacao, Puerto Rico Humacao () is a Humacao barrio-pueblo, city and Municipalities of Puerto Rico, municipality in Puerto Rico located in the eastern coast of the island, north ...

of the

Baloncesto Superior Nacional The Baloncesto Superior Nacional, abbreviated as BSN, is the first-tier-level professional men's basketball list of basketball leagues, league in Puerto Rico. It was founded in 1929 and is organized by the Puerto Rican Basketball Federation. T ...

where he averaged 12.9 points and 3.9 assists in 7 games. Later that year, he signed with Caneros de La Romana in the

Liga Nacional de Baloncesto The Liga Nacional de Baloncesto (LNB) is the top men's professional basketball league in the Dominican Republic. Established in 2005, six teams compete annually between September and October. History The league was founded on September 6, 2004 ...

and in early 2013 he signed with Bameso from the Dominican Republic's District National. In 2013, Clinch signed with reigning Icelandic champions

Grindavík Grindavík () is a fishing town in the Southern Peninsula district of Iceland, not far from Þorbjörn, a tuya (a type of flat-topped, steep-sided volcano). It is one of the few towns with a harbour on this coast. Most of the inhabitants work ...

. On February 22, 2014, he won the Icelandic Basketball Cup with the club, posting 20 points and 9 assists in Grindavík's 89–77 victory against ÍR. The club advanced to the Úrvalsdeild finals for the third straight season but lost to KR, 3–1. In August 2014, Clinch signed with the

Fukushima Firebonds The are a professional basketball team that compete in the second division of the Japanese B.League. History In May 2013 Fukushima Prefecture was announced as the successful bidder for an expansion franchise to enter the 2014-15 season of the b ...

of the Japanese

bj league The was a professional basketball league in Japan that began in November 2005 as a six-team league. The league was operated as a competitor to the established Japan Super League which was run by the Japan Basketball Association, the official ...

. Clinch signed back with Grindavík in September 2016. The team was not expected to be contenders but behind his play it returned to the Úrvalsdeild finals, for the first time since 2014, where they met KR again. After losing the first two games of the series, Grindavík won the next two and tied the series at 2 games apiece. In the fifth and deciding game, KR blew out Grindavík, 95–56, and won its fourth consecutive title. He did not return to the club the following season after contract negotiations broke down between the sides and Grindavík signed Rashad Whack in his place. On October 13, 2018, Clinch returned to Grindavík in place of recently injured Terrell Vinson. On 24 January 2019, Grindavík was fined 50.000 ISK for Clinch's Tweet on 7 January regarding the officiating in a game between

Njarðvík Njarðvík () is a town in southwestern Iceland, on the peninsula of Reykjanes. As of 2009, its population was 4,400. History In 1995 it merged with the town of Keflavík and the village of Hafnir to form the new municipality of Reykjanesbær. ...

and

Keflavík Keflavík (pronounced , meaning ''Driftwood Bay'') is a town in the Reykjanes region in southwest Iceland. It is included in the municipality of Reykjanesbær whose population as of 2016 is 15,129. In 1995, Keflavík merged with nearby Njar ...

Coaching career

Clinch took over as head coach of Grindavík women's team, with the team in second-to-last place with six games left of the 2013–14 Úrvalsdeild kvenna season. Under him, the team won 3 of its last 6 games and staved off relegation to 1. deild kvenna.

References

External links

Profile
at realgm.com

at sport-reference.com

at basketball-reference.com
Icelandic statistics
at kki.is {{DEFAULTSORT:Clinch, Lewis 1987 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in the Dominican Republic American expatriate basketball people in Iceland American expatriate basketball people in Israel American expatriate basketball people in Japan American men's basketball players Austin Toros players Basketball players from Georgia (U.S. state) Caciques de Humacao players Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets men's basketball players Grindavík (men's basketball) players Grindavík women's basketball coaches Maine Red Claws players People from Cordele, Georgia Úrvalsdeild karla (basketball) players Úrvalsdeild kvenna (basketball) coaches Guards (basketball)