Tommy Rutherford, Class of 2016, MVP of Dutch National Game May 29, 2023

After amazing basketball careers at GHS and UC Irvine, Tommy Rutherford, Class of 2016, has been playing professional basketball in Europe for three years: 2020-21 in Luxembourg; 2021-22 in Switzerland; 2022-23 in the Netherlands.

May 29, 2023, Tommy’s team ZZ Leiden defeated Donar Groningen 82-81 in the Dutch Basketball League Championship game, winning the championship game series 3 games to 2.

After the game, Tommy was named MVP.  With .3 seconds left on the clock and Leiden down 1 point, Tommy made 2 free throws to win!

June 14, 2023 Update

Team ZZ Leiden won the BNXT League Championship June 13th with a score of 91-80, winning 2 of the 3 games. (BNXT is a professional basketball league in Belgium and the Netherlands).  Grossmont High School and UC Irvine Alumnus, ZZ Leiden’s Tommy Rutherford scored 12 points and had 7 rebounds, in 19 minutes.  This win completed the “treble” for ZZ Leiden, which also won the Dutch Cup and the Dutch Playoff final this season.  

Yeah, Tommy!