Israeli basketball player Mohamed Abu Arisha recently made history by becoming the first Israeli player contracted by an Arab team, Israel Hayom learned Tuesday.
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The 24-year-old forward has signed a one-year contract with Morocco's Association Michlifen Ifrane Basketball, more commonly known as AMI Basket. The club was established in 2014 in Ifrane, in Morocco's Middle Atlas Mountains, and competes in the Division Excellence, the national top-level league.
Abu Arisha, who played for Hapoel Beersheba in the Israeli Basketball Premier League as well as the Israeli national basketball team, has been in Ifrane for over two months and is considered one of the leading foreign players in the Moroccan league.
Making professional strides, he has so far averaged 19.8 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 4.3 assists per game.
AMI Basket has had a good so far showing in the first leg of the 2021/22 season. It currently tops the northern district clans, with a perfect string of seven wins in seven games.
Born in the central Israeli city of Hadera, the 6'7 (2.1 meters)-tall Abu Arisha played club ball at Israel's prestigious Wingate Basketball Academy and then attended Elev8 Sports Academy in Delray Beach, Florida.
He followed up by attending Jacksonville State University from 2016-18, playing for the Jacksonville State Gamecocks. In 2020 he got a scholarship to attend Kentucky Wesleyan College where he played for the Kentucky Wesleyan Panthers.
The Israel Basketball Association has labeled Abu Arisha as one of the academy's most promising players from a young age. In 2015, he attended a prestigious basketball camp in the US, which only admits the 100 most promising junior players in the world.
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