Davidsonville Lacrosse Standout Switches To College Basketball

DAVIDSONVILLE, MD -- Lacrosse standout Pat Spencer, a native of Davidsonville, Md., may have been named the 2019 Tewaaraton Award winner as the nation's top lacrosse player. But Spencer surprised many when he recently decided to forego playing lacrosse as the first overall draftee in the Premier Lacrosse League draft to instead play basketball.

Spencer has signed a Big Ten tender to enroll as a graduate student at Northwestern University and play basketball for the Wildcats and Sullivan-Ubben head men's basketball coach Chris Collins. A graduate of Loyola-Maryland, Spencer was a four-time All-American and earned first team honors as a sophomore, junior and senior. He became the first player in Loyola-Maryland history to win the prestigious Tewaaraton Award and was a three-time finalist for the award.

According to Northwestern University's athletic department, Spencer is the NCAA Division I All-time leader in assists with 231 and is second with 380 career points. He set both conference and program records in his senior campaign with 65 assists and 114 points to earn his fourth Patriot League Offensive Player of the Year award.

"We are thrilled to have Pat join our Northwestern basketball family," said Collins in a statement. "Pat is an accomplished athlete, who exudes toughness and a drive to be great. He knows what it takes to compete and to win at the highest level, and his demonstrated leadership abilities will be
valuable for our young team."

Spencer was a standout prep player at Boys Latin (Md.), averaging 14.3 point, 8.1 rebounds, 6.1 assist and 2.3 steals per game his senior year. Though he focused on his lacrosse career during his time at Loyola-Maryland, he played in the Annapolis Summer Basketball League and was the leading scorer for Stanton Center in two different seasons. He was named regular season Most Valuable Player of the Annapolis Summer League in 2017.