Marques Rashaad Townes Villar (born September 3, 1995) is a Dominican-American

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player. He played college basketball for the

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, after beginning his career with Fairleigh Dickinson. He drew national attention after helping the Ramblers reach the

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round of the 2018 NCAA tournament. Entering the college level, the 6-foot-4, 210-pound

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was a three-star basketball recruit. A native of

Edison, New Jersey Edison is a Township (New Jersey), township located in Middlesex County, New Jersey, Middlesex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Situated in Central Jersey, Central New Jersey within the core of the state's Raritan River, Raritan Valley r ...

, he attended Cardinal McCarrick High School and St. Joseph High School, where he played both basketball and

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Early life

Townes was born in

to Bryant and Luisa Townes but grew up in the nearby city of Rahway. While in fifth grade, he moved to South Amboy, New Jersey. Townes began his high school years at Cardinal McCarrick High School in South Amboy, where he played basketball under head coach Joe Lewis. As a sophomore, he averaged 19.2 points and 7.5 rebounds per game, earning first-team All-County honors from ''

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'' and leading the team to a 22–7 record. At the time, he was being recruited by several major college programs, including

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Rutgers Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College and was aff ...

, and

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. Before his junior season, Townes announced that he would transfer to St. Joseph High School in

Metuchen, New Jersey Metuchen ( ) is a suburban Borough (New Jersey), borough in Middlesex County, New Jersey, Middlesex County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The borough is a commuter town of New York City, located in the heart of the Raritan River, Raritan Valle ...

, in pursuit of "bigger and better opportunities." He joined a lineup that featured future

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(NBA) players

Karl-Anthony Towns Karl-Anthony Towns Jr. (born November 15, 1995), nicknamed “KAT”, and “The Big Bodega”, is a Dominican-American professional basketball player for the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college baske ...

and Wade Baldwin IV. As a senior, he averaged about 17 points, five rebounds, three assists, and two steals per game, being a third-team All-State pick by ''The Star-Ledger''. His team, which was ranked the 12th best in the nation by ''

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'', finished with a 30–2 record and won the state's Tournament of Champions for the first time in program history. He accumulated 1,863 points, the most in school history behind Jay Williams. Townes also saw success on the football field at St. Joseph, where he played the

outside linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and typically line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and so back up the defensive linemen. They play closer to the lin ...

position. He drew interest from various

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programs, such as

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, and

, but eventually chose to focus on basketball.

College career

A three-star recruit, Townes decided to start his college basketball career with the

Fairleigh Dickinson Knights The Fairleigh Dickinson Knights refer to the 17 intercollegiate sports teams representing Fairleigh Dickinson University's Metropolitan campus in Teaneck & Hackensack, New Jersey. Fairleigh Dickinson's Florham Campus has a different mascot, t ...

, turning down offers from Saint Peter's, South Alabama,

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, and Charleston Southern. In his freshman season for the Knights, he averaged 9.1 points, 3.3 rebounds, 1.3 assists, and 1.6 steals per game. On December 29, 2015, against

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, he recorded 18 points, six rebounds, and five steals, all season-bests. As a sophomore at Fairleigh Dickinson, Townes started in all 33 games, averaging 11.5 points, 3.9 rebounds, 2.7 assists, and 1.3 steals per game. He led the team to the

2016 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament The 2016 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament involved 68 teams playing in a single-elimination tournament to determine the men's National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I college basketball national champion for the 20 ...

, where they lost to Florida Gulf Coast in the First Four round. After his second season in college, Townes announced that he transfer to play for the

. He sat out in the 2016–17 season due to

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

(NCAA) transfer rules. On November 24, 2017, he scored a season-high 23 points to help beat UNC Wilmington. At the 2018 NCAA tournament, Townes helped Loyola, an 11-seed, make a

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run to the Final Four. In the team's Sweet 16 match-up with

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, he made the game-clinching three-pointer with 6.3 seconds left in regulation. With his success in the tournament, he garnered national attention, being featured in the ''

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'' and ''

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''. Coming into his senior season, Townes was named to the Preseason Second Team All-MVC. He was named MVC Player of the Year. Townes averaged 15.3 points, 5.0 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.1 steals per game as Loyola won 20 games and earned a spot in the

National Invitation Tournament The National Invitation Tournament (NIT) is an annual men's college basketball tournament operated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Since 2023, all rounds of the tournament are played at various sites across the country whi ...

Professional career

On July 23, 2019, Townes signed with UCAM Murcia of the

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. He averaged 6 points per game during his rookie season. On June 10, 2020, Townes extended his contract by one season. On March 11, 2021, he signed with Kalev/Cramo of the

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. On September 16, 2021, he signed with Pieno žvaigždės Pasvalys of the

Lithuanian Basketball League Lithuanian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Lithuania, a country in the Baltic region in northern Europe ** Lithuanian language ** Lithuanians, a Baltic ethnic group, native to Lithuania and the immediate geographical region ** L ...

. Townes averaged 11.4 points, 3.1 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.1 steals per game. On January 3, 2022, he signed with Tours Métropole Basket of the

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. On November 22, 2023, he signed with BK Opava of NBL due to the injury of

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captain Jakub Šiřina. On January 22, 2024, he joined PAOK Thessaloniki of the

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National team career

In July 2018, Townes was selected to represent the

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at the

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References

External links