Quick Facts
Biography
Mark Lyons (born July 4, 1989) is an American professional basketball player who plays for Hapoel Tel Aviv of the Israeli Basketball Premier League. He played college basketball for Xavier and Arizona. As a professional, Lyons won the Israeli National Championship in 2016.
College career
Lyons redshirted his freshman year at Xavier due to not gaining eligibility to compete for the Musketeers. In three seasons at Xavier, Lyons was on two Sweet 16 teams and two Atlantic 10 Conference champions and scored almost 1,200 career points. As a junior, Lyons averaged 15.1 points and 2.8 assists per game while shooting 39.2 percent from behind the arc. He was suspended for two games due to his involvement in the 2011 Crosstown Shootout brawl.
In May 2012, Lyons announced that he was transferring to Arizona for his final collegiate season. Arizona's coach, Sean Miller, had previously coached Xavier and had recruited Lyons to the school. He was named Pac-12 Player of the Week on January 21, 2013. Lyons was selected to the Pac-12 All-Conference First Team in his only season at Arizona after averaging a team-high 14.9 points and 2.97 assists per game.
Professional career
After going undrafted in the 2013 NBA draft, Lyons joined the Toronto Raptors for the 2013 NBA Summer League. On July 7, 2013, he signed a one-year deal with Chorale Roanne of the LNB Pro A. However, on January 9, 2014, he parted ways with Roanne after appearing in 14 games. He later signed with Zadar of Croatia for the rest of the season on February 10. In 14 league games for Zadar, he averaged 17.1 points, 2.6 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game.
On September 9, 2014, Lyons signed a one-year deal with Spirou Charleroi of the Basketball League Belgium, only to part ways with the club on October 7 in order to sign in Israel with Ironi Nahariya. In 33 games for Nahariya, he averaged 18.4 points, 2.8 rebounds, 4.7 assists and 1.9 steals per game.
In July 2015, Lyons signed with Maccabi Rishon LeZion for the 2015–16 season. That season, he won the Israeli national championship with Rishon LeZion.
On August 1, 2016, Lyons signed with Turkish club Muratbey Uşak Sportif. On December 8, 2016, he parted ways with Uşak after averaging 14.8 points and 6.9 assists in BSL and 16.1 points and 5.9 assists in Champions League. On December 27, 2016, he signed with the Israeli club Hapoel Tel Aviv.