Payton Signs to Play Professionally in Switzerland

The former Tribe standout signed with BC Boncourt of the Swiss LNA league.

10/10/07 2:00PM

Williamsburg - Former William and Mary men’s basketball standout Adam Payton signed a professional contract with BC Boncourt in the Swiss LNA league. Payton is the sixth former W&M player currently competing in a professional league overseas.

Last season, BC Boncourt went 12-8 during the regular season to finished fourth in the LNA. They advanced to the semifinals before falling to eventual champion Fribourg, 3-1. Payton becomes the second Tribe player in the last three years to compete for BC Boncourt. Former Tribe forward Zeb Cope started his professional career with BC Boncourt in the Swiss league, before signing a contract with Orleans in the French ProA League last season.

In his season debut with BC Boncourt, Payton scored 14 points, pulled down nine rebounds, dished out fives assists and recorded six steals in an 80-67 victory over Lugano Tigers. He connected on 4-of-9 from the field, including 2-of-4 from 3-point range. He also finished with a team-high player rating of 23.0.

Payton spent two seasons with the Tribe after transferring from Vanderbilt. He led the Tribe to one of its best season in recent history during the 2006-07 campaign. The Tribe became one of only five teams in school history to defeat 15 Division I opponents, as W&M recorded its highest win total in nearly a decade. Payton earned Third-Team All-CAA honors, becoming the third player under head coach Tony Shaver to earn all-conference laurels. Payton led W&M averaging 13.8 points and 4.0 rebounds per game. He ranked among the conference leaders in points per game, field goal percentage, free throw percentage and steals per game.

For his career, Payton averaged 10.5 points and 3.3 rebounds per contest with the Tribe. He started 54 of 58 games over his two-year career and shot 47.9 percent from the field. Payton ranks fifth on the W&M career steals per game list at 1.6 per contest.