UMass Lowell Athletics

HERENDA ON KANAAN: [quote]It is truly Ali[apos]s time. He had a great experience this summer with the Lebanese National Team and quite literally traveled the world and competed against the best players in the world. He has done everything that has been asked of him while at Lowell and he deserves his just rewards. He rebounded the ball very well, blocked a ton of shots and even stole the ball in our press. I want to get him the ball more this year and score both inside and from behind the three.[quote] AS A SENIOR: Named to the Northeast-10 All-Tournament Team • Named to the NE-10 Weekly Honor Roll once during the season • Appeared in 30 games with 19 starts on the year • Averaged 8.0 PPG and a team-best 5.9 RPG and 1.7 BPG, shooting .478 from the floor • Had a season-best 17 points versus Assumption in the NE-10 Tournament First Round on Feb. 27 and 15 rebounds at Merrimack in the Semifinal on March 4 • Had three games with five blocks during the season and went 7-8 from the floor at Assumption on Jan. 6 • Finished his career 8th all-time in program history with 585 rebounds and second with 151 blocks. AS A JUNIOR: Played in 23 games with 21 starts • Averaged 27.9 minutes per game and 5.7 rebounds • Season highs include 11 rebounds in a 78-41 win over Mercy in the UML Tip-Off Tourney; five assists in an 83-47 win over St. Michael[apos]s; 18 points in a 70-68 loss at Bentley. AS A SOPHOMORE: Played in all 29 games with 26 starts • Ranked among NE-10 leaders in blocked shots (sixth, 1.17), defensive rebounds (12th, 4.52) and total rebounds (18th, 6.1) • Season-highs include 14 points and five assists in a 56-50 loss to Bryant; 15 rebounds in an 80-73 loss at Merrimack; three blocked shots three times. AS A FRESHMAN: Played in 25 games with seven starts • Northeast- 10 Conference Weekly Honor Roll once • Season-highs include 25 points and four assists in a 92-76 win over Southern Connecticut; eight rebounds in a 68-63 win over Southern New Hampshire; and three blocks three times MONTMORENCY HIGH SCHOOL: Also played at Montmorency H.S. for coach Alex Perno • Led Montmorency H.S. to Province of Quebec championship (named tournament most valuable player) as well as and national title • Led Montmorency High School in blocked shots (2.3) as a senior. GEORGES-VANIER HIGH SCHOOL: Four-year player at Georges-Vanier H.S. for coach Ralph Olin • Province of Quebec Most Valuable Player as a senior • Also helped Georges-Vanier to the 2003-04 regional, provincial and national championships as a senior. PERSONAL: Born in Beirut, Lebanon • One of three children of Anis Kanaan and Amira El-Fares of Beirut, Lebanon • Nicknamed [quote]Boumbaye[quote] • Influences include Michael Jordan, Dwight Howard and brother Khalil Kanaan • Lists Phoenix Suns, Montreal Canadiens as favorite professional teams • Says winning a Regional Championship with Georges-Vanier in 2003 and a National Championship with Montmorency in 2006 were his greatest sports moments • Aspires to play professional basketball in Europe • Speaks English, French and Arabic.