Bird flies south, Clark joins Basquete Cearense

Fortaleza, Brazil - Carson-Newman men's basketball alum Charles Clark has signed a professional contract in Brazil's top-tier Novo Basquete Brasil with Basquete Cearense.

The second-year pro makes the move to the Southern Hemisphere after a highly productive rookie season in Iceland.  Clark wrapped up his season with Hottur averaging 24.3 points on 57.9 percent shooting.  He was his league's third-leading scorer.

He is one of four active professional basketball players who graduatedd from Carson-Newman. Ish Sanders (Slovakia, Kosovo, Spain, Australia), Josh Rogers (Israel, England) and Grant Teichmann (Germany) are the others. 

With an All-American accolade from the Division II Bulletin as a senior, Clark joined Carson-Newman legend Gil Luttrell (1963 and 64) as the only two-time All-Americans in the history of the Carson-Newman men's basketball program.  

Clark was the South Atlantic Conference's leading scorer for the 2017-18 season with more than 21 points per game, and cemented himself in the record books for both Carson-Newman and the SAC. 

Clark broke past the 2,300-point threshold in Carson-Newman's SAC quarterfinal win over Newberry with a 29-point effort against the Wolves, the 56th 20-point scoring effort of his career.  

He finished his tenure at the Creek with 2,339 career points. He is the South Atlantic Conference's all-time leading scorer and the third all-time leading scorer in the history of the Carson-Newman men's basketball program.  

With 208 career steals, he is Carson-Newman's all-time leader for the category and sixth all-time in SAC history. He has made the second most field goals in league history at 716. 

He finished his career as the SAC's all-time leader in free throws made and with the second most in Carson-Newman history with 634.

Clark has made the fifth most threes in South Atlantic Conference history. He buried 259 for his career. That figure is second all-time in Carson-Newman history to Ish Sanders' 340.  As a junior, Clark was named an All-American and South Atlantic Conference Player of the Year.