Blake Ahearn

Blake Ahearn

Ahearn during his first tenure with the Dakota Wizards
Personal information
Born (1984-05-27) May 27, 1984
St. Louis, Missouri
Nationality American
Listed height 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Listed weight 190 lb (86 kg)
Career information
High school De Smet Jesuit
(Creve Coeur, Missouri)
College Missouri State (2003–2007)
NBA draft 2007 / Undrafted
Playing career 2007–2015
Position Point guard
Number 6, 18, 2
Career history
2007–2008 Dakota Wizards
2008 Miami Heat
2008 San Antonio Spurs
2008 →Austin Toros
2008–2009 Dakota Wizards
2009 Estudiantes Madrid
2010 Bakersfield Jam
2010 Erie BayHawks
2010 Teramo Basket
2010–2011 Erie BayHawks
2011–2012 Reno Bighorns
2012 Utah Jazz
2012–2013 Dongguan Leopards
2013–2014 Budivelnyk Kyiv
2015 Capitanes de Arecibo
2015 Santa Cruz Warriors
Career highlights and awards
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com
Medals
Men's Basketball
Representing  United States
Pan American Games
2011 Guadalajara National team

Blake Ahearn (born May 27, 1984) is an American retired professional basketball player who last played for the Santa Cruz Warriors of the NBA Development League. He played college basketball for Missouri State.

High school career

Ahearn attended Immacolata School in St. Louis for grade school. He then went to De Smet Jesuit High School in St. Louis, Missouri. He played three years of varsity. He averaged 17.7 points per game as a junior and 18.5 as a senior. He was an All-Metro Selection his junior and senior years and an All-State selection his junior year. In his junior year he broke his hand in the divisional semifinal game. He was unable to play for the duration of his junior year. His team was state runner-up his junior year losing to Missouri powerhouse Vashon High School in the state championship game.[1]

College career

Ahearn played collegiately for the Missouri State Bears from 2003–2007. He was poised to finish his career with four straight NCAA free-throw titles but failed, and finished with an accuracy of 92.5% during his senior year. He finished his college career as a 94.6% free throw shooter, 435 for 460, all-time best percentage.[2] He also holds a single-season record at 97.5%. He made 60 consecutive free-throws twice in his career (December 20, 2003 through February 14, 2004 and December 19, 2004 to February 26, 2005) which are school and Missouri Valley Conference records. He missed his final attempt against the San Diego State Aztecs in the NIT on March 24, 2007, his final college game. He holds the career record for career three-pointers at Missouri State with 276, and was selected the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) Freshman of the Year (2004), also being a two-time all-MVC first teamer (2006 and 2007).[2] He came within one game each season of making the NCAA tournament and failed to reach any. His team lost in double overtime to Northern Iowa in the MVC Tournament finals his freshman year and to Creighton in the MVC finals his sophomore year. His team was rated 21st in the RPI his junior year and a 33rd his senior year, which included a win over #7 in the nation Wisconsin.

Professional career

2007–08 season

NBA D-League

In the 2007–2008 season, Ahearn played with the NBA Development League's Dakota Wizards. He worked his way to the starting lineup, averaging 19 points, with a 96% free-throw percentage, shooting 49% from the field and 44% from 3-point range in 41 games.

NBA

On March 21, 2008, Ahearn was signed to a 10-day contract by the NBA's Miami Heat, whose roster had been depleted by injuries.[3] On March 27, Ahearn scored a team-high 15 points in a loss to the Detroit Pistons.[4]

On April 10, Ahearn was named the Rookie of the Year of the D-League and All-NBA Development League Second Team.[5]

2008–09 season

Despite posting a solid NBA preseason during which he averaged 8 points per game, Ahearn was cut by the Minnesota Timberwolves on October 23, 2008. After being waived by the Timberwolves he joined the Dakota Wizards. On November 16, Ahearn was signed by the San Antonio Spurs becoming the 2008–09 season's first D-League call-up.[2] Ahearn was in camp with the Wizards prior to signing with the Spurs.[2] On November 30, Ahearn was assigned to the Spurs' D-League affiliate Austin Toros.[6]

The Spurs waived Ahearn on December 15, 2008, and he re-joined the Dakota Wizards. He was selected to play in the D-League All-Star Game on February 14, 2009.

2009–10 season

The following season Ahearn signed a contract with Estudiantes Madrid in Spain, until he moved back and played for Bakersfield Jam and for Erie BayHawks in the NBA Development League.

2010–11 season

On August 1, Ahearn signed a contract with the Italian team Teramo Basket but he was waived after a few games.

On December 29, he re-signed with the Erie BayHawks.

2011–12 season

Blake started the 2011–12 season participating for the United States Basketball Team in the 2011 Pan American Games. The United States won the Bronze medal with a win over the Dominican Republic in the Medal Rounds. Blake was second on the team in scoring, averaging 10 points per game, including a team high 21 points vs Brazil in round robin play.[7]

After the games Blake signed with the Erie Bayhawks in the NBA Development League. On draft day Blake was traded to the Reno Bighorns.[8]

Blake attended training camp with the Los Angeles Clippers during the first part of the D-League season. He then returned to the Bighorns.

During the 2011–12 season Blake led the NBA-D League in scoring at 23.8 points per game[9] He was selected to play in the D-League All-Star Game and had 21 points and 8 assists during the game. Blake also set the NBA and NBA D-League mark of 110 consecutive free throws during his season in Reno.[10] Blake set the all-time career points record for the NBA Development league in 2012.[11]

On April 10 the Utah Jazz signed Blake Ahearn to a 10-day contract.[10] On April 20 he was signed for the reminder of the season.[12]

2012–13 season

In September 2012, Ahearn signed with the Indiana Pacers of the NBA.[13] On October 22, 2012 Ahearn was waived by the Indiana Pacers.[14]

In December 2012, he signed with the Dongguan Leopards of the CBA.[15]

2013–14 season

On August 12, 2013, Ahearn signed with Budivelnyk Kyiv.[16]

2014–15 season

On December 18, 2014, Ahearn signed with Capitanes de Arecibo for the 2015 BSN season.[17] However, he left the club in February 2015 after appearing in just three games.

On March 11, 2015, he was acquired by the Santa Cruz Warriors.[18] On April 26, he won the D-League championship with the Warriors.[19]

Coaching career

In 2015, Ahearn became head boys' coach at Clayton High School in Clayton, Missouri. Following a 7–17 season there he was hired to coach his alma mater, De Smet Jesuit.[20]

NBA career statistics

Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field goal percentage  3P%  3-point field goal percentage  FT%  Free throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high

Regular season

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2007–08 Miami 12 0 14.8 .263 .294 .968 1.6 1.6 .5 .0 5.8
2008–09 San Antonio 3 0 6.3 .333 .500 1.000 .3 .7 .3 .0 2.7
2011–12 Utah 4 0 7.5 .286 .222 .000 .5 .3 .0 .0 2.5
Career 19 0 11.9 .273 .298 .970 1.2 1.2 .4 .0 4.6

Playoffs

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2012 Utah 3 0 2.7 .667 1.000 .000 .0 .7 .0 .0 1.7
Career 3 0 2.7 .667 1.000 .000 .0 .7 .0 .0 1.7

Career statistics

Domestic leagues statistics

Season Team League GP MPG FG% 3PT FG% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2007–08 Dakota Wizards D-League 41 29.1 .533 .446 .965 2.0 3.4 .7 .0 19.0
2008–09 43 39.1 .462 .419 .959 2.3 5.1 .7 .0 22.7
Austin Toros 6 34.5 .375 .531 .914 2.3 6.0 .8 .0 18.8
2009–10 CB Estudiantes Liga ACB 13 25.1 .294 .414 .983 1.1 .8 .7 .1 14.2
Bakersfield Jam D-League 17 32.9 .459 .277 .932 2.1 4.1 1.2 .1 14.3
Erie Bayhawks 13 45.0 .426 .440 .961 4.5 6.7 1.2 .3 25.7
2010–11 Teramo Basket Lega A 6 24.5 .286 .345 1.000 1.7 1.3 .5 .0 9.3
Erie Bayhawks D-League 34 33.7 .450 .357 .958 2.6 5.9 1.0 .1 16.7
2011–12 Reno Bighorns 37 37.5 .523 .409 .962 2.6 5.1 1.1 .1 23.8
2012–13 Dongguan Leopards CBA 17 28.6 .468 .333 .905 3.1 3.4 .9 .0 23.0
2013–14 BC Budivelnyk SuperLeague 20 24.8 .449 .383 .853 1.7 3.2 .7 .2 11.6
2014–15 Santa Cruz Warriors D-League 10 19.4 .429 .390 .944 1.7 2.4 .6 .0 8.9

Continental statistics

Season Team League GP MPG FG% 3PT FG% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2013–14 BC Budivelnyk Euroleague 9 20.8 .378 .361 .905 1.6 1.7 .0 .1 9.6
EuroCup 10 23.7 .525 .457 .978 1.5 2.6 .6 .0 15.0
2014–15 Capitanes de Arecibo Americas League 3 25.0 .125 .316 .750 2.0 2.3 1.0 .0 8.7

References

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