By Jim Fenton
BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- At this time last year, he played for the Bridgewater State University men's basketball team, making the rounds in the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference.
One year later, Emerson Halbleib (Carmel, Ind.) is still playing basketball, only he is now doing so on a team in a professional league in Portugal.
The 6-foot-9 center, who played two seasons at BSU as a graduate student, is with the Electrico Futebol Clube in Ponte de Sor.
Halbleib has been overseas since November and has helped the Electrico FC go 11-1 in the third division Portuguese league.
He is averaging 20.9 points and 11.4 rebounds in 35 minutes after getting 34 points and 18 rebounds in a 99-90 win over Queluz in Lisbon this past weekend.
After BSU's 2023-24 season ended in disappointment in the MASCAC championship game, an 80-79 overtime loss to Worcester State University, Halbleib was hoping to keep playing.
His dream came true when he was signed by the Electrico FC as one of two Americans allowed on the roster.
"It's been amazing," said Halbleib during a phone interview from Portugal this week. "It's been really great. I'm really enjoying it.
"It's been a really cool experience. Just living with the people here, learning a different culture even trying to learn as much of the language as I can, it's been unreal and very eye opening."
Halbleib played club basketball during his undergraduate days at Purdue University, winning a national championship over Notre Dame.
After graduating from Purdue, Halbleib searched for schools where he could play at the NCAA level and landed at Bridgewater State.
In two years with the Bears, Halbleib made the All-MASCAC first team and was the defensive player of the year in 2022-23 and earned a spot on the second team last season.
He set the BSU record for blocks in a season with 68 and for the best field goal percentage of 68.2 percent.
Halbleib played 49 games for the Bears, averaging 13.7 points on 64 percent shooting with 10.5 rebounds and 2.6 blocked shots.
After leaving BSU, Halbleib attended a Division 3 tryout tournament in New York and connected with an agent, who eventually got him a spot on the team in Portugal.
"I put some film together from my couple of years at Bridgewater and he sent it out, talked to a bunch of teams," said Halbleib. "He texted me one day and said, 'Hey, I've
got a contract for you in Portugal, what do you think?' I signed and worked the next couple of months getting my visa and paper work done."
Halbleib arrived in Portugal about three months ago and has been adapting to life in a new country ever since.
He was the lone American on the Electrico FC roster until early January when former American International College player Jalen Jordan, who is from Virginia, joined the squad.
Halbleib figures the level of play in his Portuguese league is similar to Division II college in the United States.
"The major difference is (more) athleticism (in the U.S.)," he said. "At Bridgewater, we played much faster, we ran a lot more.
"But the skill level here is higher. We've got a lot of guys who played in the first league before. We all flow naturally. We know how to run pick-and-roll. I just fit right in because their experience level is high. But it's a slower game here."
Halbleib, who studied business administration at BSU, is grateful for the two years he had with the Bears after his club basketball career at Purdue.
"It helped an incredible amount," he said. "Because of the path I took playing club at Purdue, Bridgewater really gave me that chance to get my foot back in the door and gave me a great opportunity.
"I tried to take full advantage of it, working as hard as I could and using the resources they gave me, working out and trying to learn and working with the athletic trainer every single day to work on my body and doing what I needed to do.
"I credit them a lot. They really gave me an opportunity and gave me a chance and I did the most of it I could."
It was at Bridgewater State where Halbleib set his sights on continuing his basketball career, and he made it happen.
"I kind of went back and forth before,'' he said. "When I was younger, it wasn't (a goal). When I was finishing up at Purdue, I wanted to see how far I could take basketball.
"At Bridgewater, it turned into my goal. I really decided to pursue it after last season, gave myself some time to work towards it while I'm young and able to. I just wanted to go for it while I can."
Ponte de Sor, where Halbleib is living, is a town of about 17,000 people located two hours away from Lisbon and about a five-hour drive to the Spain border.
"It's my first time outside the U.S. and it's been cool to see," said Halbleib. "It's definitely different. The food is really good, it's warm here now, about 60.
"It's a beautiful place. There's orange trees in our backyard. People recognize you walking around the town, give you congrats, support you."
Electrico FC is about to complete the first portion of its schedule, playing the other seven teams in its region twice. Next will be eight more games against the four teams from the bottom region and the playoffs begin in the spring.
Teams only play once a week, so there is plenty of practice time.
Halbleib is scheduled to return home in May and is hopeful that he can return and play overseas in the 2025-26 season.
"Absolutely," he said. "I'd love to move up a division or two. Portugal would be a great place to come back, but I'm also open to other countries and leagues.
"It has been really enjoyable."