Marc-Antoine Bourgault signs with Lille in France's ProB

St. John's wing Marc-Antoine Bourgault, 24, has returned to France to play professional basketball, signing with Lille of the French ProB league (second division).

Bourgault shot 58% from beyond the arc on 7/12 shots last season, and 29/87 (33%) in his St. John's career. After initial excitement when Bourgault became eligible, the French wing struggled to break into Steve Lavin's rotation in both of his years after coming over with Orlando Sanchez from Monroe Junior College.

Despite an experiment with playing multiple shooters on the floor during last summer's European exhibition games, Marc-Antoine fell more out of favor with the arrival of wing shooter Max Hooper. Bourgault appeared in 13 games last year, logging more than three minutes in only three contests.

He made shots when he got his chances, going 2/4 for six points against Robert Morris to pull St. John's closer to the visiting NEC foe in the postseason NIT first round (a game St. John's lost despite a late comeback attempt). Bourgault also put in nine points in a thrashing of Fordham and five more in a beating of the San Francisco Dons.

Marc-Antoine Bourgault averaged 2.5 points in eight minutes per game.

Lille, which plays in a league with Evreux and Rouen, squads St. John's faced last summer, hopes that Bourgault can be a long-range shooter to help them win more games. The team was 17 out of 18 teams in the league with a 15-29 record last season, only a game above the bottom club.