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Delaware State senior erupts for 33 points, 30 rebounds

The headline on Delaware State's athletics site labeled Kendall Gray's performance Thursday night a "monster game."

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Kendall Gray became the first player in a decade to tally 30 rebounds in a single game.
Kendall Gray became the first player in a decade to tally 30 rebounds in a single game.

Even that isn't doing it justice.

The 6-foot-10 senior became only the fourth Division I player since 1980 to tally 30 or more rebounds in a single game. He played all 40 minutes and finished with 33 points and 30 rebounds in Delaware State's 104-92 victory over Coppin State.

The last player to pull down 30 or more rebounds in the same game is Arkansas-Little Rock forward Rashad Jones-Jennings, who had 30 in a victory against Arkansas-Pine Bluff in Dec. 2005. Fresno State's Larry Abney had 35 in a Feb. 2000 loss to SMU and Southern's Jervaughn Scales had 32 in a Feb. 1994 victory over Grambling State.

All of college basketball's top single-game rebounding performances came in the 1950s and 60s when the the combination of faster-paced offense and less accurate shooting made superhuman rebounding totals more common. William & Mary center Bill Chambers set the Division I record in 1953 with a 51-rebound performance against Virginia.

"My friends make comments nowadays when someone has 18 or 19 rebounds in a game," Chambers told Yahoo Sports in 2012. "They'll laugh and say, 'That's no big deal for you.' They like to kid me about how poorly we must have shot the ball."

Rebounding wasn't valued in 1953 the way it is now, so Chambers' 51-rebound performance received very little fanfare the night he did it. There was no announcement over the PA system to inform the crowd a record had been set. Even newspaper recaps from the game highlighted Chambers' 37 points more than his rebounding tally.

Gray's 30-board performance should receive a bit more attention this week even though the nation's second leading rebounder plays for a program that is well off the radar. The senior had 11 offensive rebounds and 19 defensive rebounds in the high-scoring, fast-paced game, increasing his season average to 11.8 boards per game.

Impressive as Gray's statistics were, he wasn't even the leading scorer on his team Thursday night. Amere May poured in 40 points for Delaware State, more than enough to earn player of the game honors on most nights but not when a teammate goes for 33 and 30.

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Jeff Eisenberg is the editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at daggerblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!