Prior to last week, Oregon State rising sophomore and Class of 2009’s highly rated recruit Roberto Nelson wasn’t widely known outside of the West Coast or Beaver Nation. Now he’s an internet sensation after having an unfortunate accident that required him to get 20 stiches after shattering a backboard in Europe.
The high scoring guard was once one of the Top 100 rated players in the nation 2 seasons ago but struggled to get on the court for coach Craig Robinson’s squad until the middle of last season due to academic issues. While he averaged only 7.5 ppg in limited minutes off the bench, he along with fellow top rated big man Devon Collier are undoubtedly the future of the Oregon State program going forward. With the return of sophomore leading scorer Jared Cunningham back this coming year, the Beavers may be one of the sleepers of the revamped PAC-10 Conference.
With the Beavers traveling abroad in Macedonia as part of their Beavers Without Borders program, where they help families in need by helping build houses in foreign countries, Nelson and a few teammates decided to play an organized pick-up game against some European players at the local gym.
Even though the opposing coach warned everyone about dunking on the old fashioned backboard, Nelson and his teammates decided to take the ball to the rack with authority after a few of the Macedonian players had no issue throwing one down.
Apparently American collegiate weight rooms must be more advanced than their European counterparts as Nelson took a point blank pass from a teammate to attempt a ferocious throw-down which caused the ancient glass backboard to shatter, leaving Nelson to plummet to the hardwood amidst a shower of glass shards, still holding the rim.
Nelson reportedly required more than 20 stitches over the base of his nose to close a deep wound but will take home with him a lasting memory along with a some sweet youtube footage that will last a lifetime.
Now I’m guessing that the Beavers Without Borders program will be making a return trip back to Macedonia in the near future to replace the shattered backboard.
Check out footage of Robert Nelson’s Scary Moment(at the 2:13 mark):
Allen Moll has been a lifelong NBA and NCAA College Basketball fan who watches and studies games religiously, and coaches youth basketball in his native Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania. Allen also provides content to Bleacherreport.com, Upperdeckblog.com, in addition to being a tenured NBA and NCAA columnist for TheHoopDoctors.com.
