Former ACCAC Men's Basketball standouts Yaxel Lendeborg (Arizona Western) and Oscar Cluff (Cochise) are turning heads at the NCAA DI level with record-setting performances this season.
Lendeborg, who played at Arizona Western from 2020-2023, is in his senior season at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and is coming off a junior season in which he was named the American Conference Defensive Player of the Year and helped lead the Blazers to the NCAA National Tournament.
The forward from Pennsauken, N.J. is currently averaging 17.8 points per game and 11.0 rebounds per game, and has recorded 19 double-doubles this season and 36 in his two years at UAB, the most in program history. Prior to the season, Lendeborg was named to the Naismith Men's College Player of the Year Watch List and most recently was named to the Karl Malone Award Midseason Top 10 List.
While at Arizona Western, Lendeborg led the Matadors to a Region I title and led the NJCAA in rebounding in the 2022-23 season while being named both the ACCAC Player of the Year and the ACCAC Defensive Player of the Year in his time in Yuma.
Oscar Cluff, who played at Cochise College from 2021 to 2023, is in his first season at South Dakota State after transferring from Washington State. Cluff, just like Lendeborg, Is also averaging a double-double with 17.3 points per game and 12.5 rebounds per contest for the Jackrabbits.
The center from Australia has been awarded the Kwik Star Summit League Men's Basketball Peak Performer of the Week four times and was the Summit League's Newcomer of the Month for the month of January. Cluff's 12.5 rebounds per game leads the entire NCAA and one of just two players to average over 12 rebounds per game. Cluff was recently named a top-10 finalist for the 2025 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year award.
While at Cochise, Cluff averaged 18.2 points per game as a sophomore and led the country in field goal percentage as a freshman, guiding the Apaches to a Region I title.
Both Cluff and Lendeborg are in the top 10 in rebounds and double-doubles, with Cluff recording 20 double-doubles this season for the second most in the NCAA, one ahead of Lendeborg.
