Player Profile: Nicolas Dierynck

The 2019-’20 season ended in the Yankee Small College Conference (YSCC) Semi-Finals for youngster Nicolas Dierynck as his Central Maine Mustangs took the loss against NHTI.

Despite not going all the way to the finals it has definitely been a very nice season for the Mustangs and for Dierynck in particular who was selected to the All-Conference 2nd team as he averaged 13.2 ppg (53% on 2s, 34% on 3s, 77% on FTs), 5.1 rpg, 1.9 apg, 0.9 spg & 0.4 bpg in 25.8 mpg (27 games).

Not bad for a kid who only joined the school this season after bouncing around the several US Academic leagues a bit with one year at Lee Academy (HS), one year at Lindenwood-Belleville (NAIA) and one year at Cuesta CC (NJCAA).

The 1m93 tall youngster initially started his basketball journey in 2005 when he signed up with his local club Wytewa Roeselare. In 2012 Dierynck then left his hometown club to play for Gistel-Oostende where he would remain until 2016 before signing with Waregem. During that 2016-’17 season the call from abroad became too strong however and Dierynck left Belgium to sign up with Lee Academy in the USA.

Now – 4 years later – in his sophomore season at Central Maine Dierynck has clearly developed into a solid player and is garnering praise for his work-ethic. Despite being new in the team he quickly found his spot in the starting line-up and put down strong performances all season long. He scored a season-high 24 points in the win at Northern Essex (Nov. 2). In total he recorded four 20+ pts games throughout the season and grabbed a season-high 10 rebounds twice. Unfortunately on both occasions he came just shy of getting the double-double as he finished with 9 pts & 10 rebs in both games.

2019-’20 Season Highs:
Record: 17-10
Full Stat-line: 13.2 ppg, 5.1 rpg, 1.9 apg, 0.9 spg & 0.4 bpg in 25.8 mpg
Points: 24 pts (@ Northern Essex, 2/11/2019)
Rebounds: 10 rebs (2 times)
Assists: 7 asts (@ CCRI, 14/12/2019)
Steals: 2 stls (8 times)
Blocks: 1 blk (11 times)