Brian Beshara
Brian Anthony Beshara (Feghali) (born 30 December 1977) is a former Lebanese basketball player. Beshara was also a member of the Lebanese national basketball team. At 6'8", he was Lebanon's starting forward and played an important role on both the offensive and defensive sides. His former LSU coach John Brady describes him as follows:"Brian Beshara is a good basketball player. He's tough. He's competitive. He believes in what he's doing."[1]
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born | December 30, 1977 Dallas, Texas | ||||||||||||||||
| Nationality | Lebanese / American | ||||||||||||||||
| Listed height | 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) | ||||||||||||||||
| Listed weight | 209 lb (95 kg) | ||||||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||||||
| High school | Highland Park (University Park, Texas) | ||||||||||||||||
| College | Rice (1996–1997) LSU (1998–2001) | ||||||||||||||||
| NBA draft | 2001 / Undrafted | ||||||||||||||||
| Playing career | 2001–2010 | ||||||||||||||||
| Position | Forward | ||||||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||||||
| 2001–2004 | Hekmeh BC | ||||||||||||||||
| 2004–2005 | Blue Stars | ||||||||||||||||
| 2005–2006 | Champville SC | ||||||||||||||||
| 2006–2007 | Sporting Al Riyadi Beirut | ||||||||||||||||
| 2007–2008 | Al Mouttahed | ||||||||||||||||
| 2008–2009 | Hekmeh BC | ||||||||||||||||
| 2009 | Sporting Al Riyadi Beirut | ||||||||||||||||
| 2009–2010 | Hekmeh BC | ||||||||||||||||
Medals
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College and Club Basketball
After graduating from Highland Park High School in Dallas, Texas, Beshara played college basketball first for one year at Rice and then three years with the LSU Tigers.
After his career at LSU, Brian Beshara opted to play basketball in Lebanon. In 2001, he joined Lebanese Champions and Arab and Asian Club Champions Sagesse Beirut (Hekmeh), where he teamed up with local stars such as Fadi El Khatib and Elie Mechantaf and played under National Coach Ghassan Sarkis.
Following a two-year spell at Hekmeh BC (also known as Sagesse), Beshara left for the recently formed Lebanese club, Blue Stars, where he played for a couple of years during which he was limited with various injuries. After Blue Stars, Beshara rejoined his former coach, Sarkis, for the 2005/2006 season, with his new team, Champville SC. Beshara served as team captain while with Champville. Following a disagreement with the club's management, Beshara left Champville and found himself without a team for the 2006/2007 season, as Champville refused to free him from his contract and let him join league champions Sporting Al Riyadi Beirut. Later on, he played for a short period in Al Mouttahed, then spent some time between Hekmeh BC and Sporting Al Riyadi Beirut.
Beshara is currently an aspiring real estate developer and broker.
National Team Basketball
Brian Beshara was an important asset for Lebanese national basketball team. He played part in the qualification to both the 2002 and 2006 world championships in Indianapolis and Japan, respectively.
Below are some recent statistics[2] for his performance with the national team.
| Competition | PPG | RPG | APG |
|---|---|---|---|
| FIBA Asia Championship for Men 2007 | 8.1 | 5.4 | 0.3 |
| FIBA World Championship 2006 | 9.8 | 4.6 | 2 |
One of the highest achievements realized by the Lebanese national basketball team was their 74–73 victory over the French national basketball team on August 23, 2006 during the 2006 World Championship in Sendai, Japan. In the game, Beshara scored 11 points and led the team with 8 rebounds.[3]