Former MCC basketball player ready to begin career in NBA

(TORONTO) -- The Toronto Raptors (1-0) announced this past off-season they have signed free agent forward Jamario Moon to a two-year contract.

Moon is a former basketball player from Meridian Community College.

Moon attended the Raptors’ free agent camp this past summer and was added to the team.

Moon scored 10 points, with 4 rebounds and 3 assist in a 92-82 preseason win over Chicago on October 19th. He did not play in the regular season opening win over Philadelphia Wednesday night; the Raptors play again Friday night at New Jersey.

Moon will join fellow MCC basketball alumni Ronald Murray (Detroit Pistons) in the NBA this season.

A native of Rockford, AL, Moon has also spent professional playing time in the National Basketball Development League (Huntsville (Ala.) Flight and Mobile (Ala.) Revelers), American Basketball Association (Kentucky Colonels) and the World Basketball Association with the Rome (Ga.) Gladiators. He averaged 13.4 points and 6.3 rebounds in 21 games for the Gladiators, leading them to the 2005 WBA Championship.

He was an early entry candidate for the 2001 NBA Draft, but was not selected. According to Meridian head coach George Brooks, “Moon was the most talented player he had ever coached” (according to NBA.com). In his one and only season at Meridian, Moon averaged 20.8 points and 8.7 rebounds.

Moon, 6-foot-8, 205 pounds, saw action in 44 games with the Continental Basketball Association’s Albany (N.Y.) Patroons in 2006-07. He finished seventh in the CBA in scoring (18.8), fifth in rebounding (7.8), third in steals (2.0) and second in blocks (2.4). He also ranked fifth in the league in three-point field goal percentage at .401 (73-182) and shot .503 per cent (316-628) from the field. He was named the CBA Defensive Player of the Year and earned first-team All-CBA honors.

Following his stint in the CBA, Moon joined the Gary (Ind.) Steelheads of the United States Basketball League where he averaged 16.7 points, 6.8 rebounds, 1.6 steals and 2.1 blocks in 22 contests.