Toolson's a Turkish All-Star

OREM — Utah Valley University's all-time leading scorer Ryan Toolson had his six-day vacation back to the United States interrupted, but he's OK with it.

Toolson, who is 13 games into his first season in pro basketball in Turkey, was recently named to the Turkish Basketball League All-Star team. He will compete in the 3-point shooting contest on Saturday in Kayseri, Turkey, and then participate in the game on Sunday.

He is on the Foreign All-Star Team, which will play the Turkish All-Stars.

"I'm excited," said Toolson before leaving Orem to head back to Turkey for the all-star festivities.

"It will be fun. I've always wanted to be in something like this, and to do it as a rookie will be more exciting than it might normally be."

Other Americans joining Toolson on the 12-man all-star squad are Brandon Bowman (Georgetown), Lance Williams (DePaul), Josh Shipp (UCLA), Lonny Baxter (Maryland), Terence Kinsey (South Carolina), and Quincy Douby (Rutgers).

"This is a terrific accomplishment as a rookie as he proves his abilities and talents as a professional player," UVU coach Dick Hunsaker said.

James Brown (Rhode Island) is the only other American in the 3-point contest.

Currently, Toolson leads Pinar Karsiyaka in scoring with 17.7 ppg. In the second game of his career he posted a career-high 32 points against Oyak Renault by going 11-of-17 from the field, including 8-of-10 from the 3-point line.

Toolson, a member of the 2008-09 All-Independent first team, ranked eighth in the nation in scoring at 23.8 points per game as a senior at UVU.

Toolson finished his career ranked second behind current Utah Jazz player Ronnie Price (22.2 ppg) in career scoring average at 19.1 ppg.