Aug. 6, 2008
From Holy Cross Athletic Communications
Worcester, Mass. - A pair of former Holy Cross men's basketball standouts are taking their game to Europe after signing one-year contracts recently. Keith Simmons inked a deal with the Deutsche Bank Skyliners in Germany, while Torey Thomas signed with the Hanzevast Capitals in the Netherlands. Both players are 2007 Holy Cross graduates that starred on the school's 2006-07 Patriot League championship team.
The Deutsche Bank Skyliners, who compete in the Basketball Bundesliga, are located in the city of Frankfurt. The Hanzevast Capitals, who compete in the Dutch Eredivisie, are located in the city of Groningen.
In 2007-2008, Simmons played for Kepez, a team in the Turkish First Division, which is based in Antalya, Turkey. He averaged 16.1 points, 5.7 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game during his one year with Kepez.
Simmons was named the 2007 Patriot League Player of the Year. He was also a first team All-Conference selection in 2007, after leading the team and the league in scoring last season with an average of 16.9 points per game. Simmons also led the team with 5.8 rebounds per game and was second on the squad with 2.3 steals per game, marks which ranked fifth and second in the conference, respectively.
Simmons finished his career first on the school career list for games played (126), second for three-point field goals made (194), fifth for steals (191) and ninth for points scored (1,654).
In 2008, Thomas was named the Player of the Year in the Swedish Basketligan, while playing for Akropol BBK. During the 2008 campaign, Thomas averaged 25.6 points, 7.6 rebounds, 6.6 assists and 3.1 steals per game for Akropol. He also shot 51.2 percent from the field, 43.8 percent from three-point range and 81.4 percent at the free throw line. Thomas finished the year as the league leader in scoring, assists and steals, as Akropol posted an overall record of 9-24.
Thomas earned Patriot League Defensive Player of the Year honors as a senior and was also named first team All-Conference. He ranked second on the team and seventh in the league in scoring with an average of 13.7 points per game in 2006-2007, in addition to leading the conference with an average of 2.8 steals per game. He also ranked first on the team in assists (4.8 assists per game) and third in rebounding (4.7 rebounds per game), marks which placed him second and 11th in the conference, respectively.
Thomas finished his career ranked second all-time at Holy Cross in steals (268) and games played (125), fifth in assists (468) and 10th in three-point field goals made (108), while scoring 1,201 career points.
