College Basketball Player Deng Ador, 22, Dies from Drowning

A tragic drowning incident at a reservoir in Utah has left a 22-year-old college basketball player dead.

Deng Ador, 22, and 21-year-old Sa Mafutaga were swimming in the Blackridge Reservoir late Saturday afternoon when they began struggling in the water. According to police, Mafutaga managed to reach land and ran to alert police that Ador was still in the water.

Mafutaga was aided in getting out of the water by onlookers who jumped into the water to pull him out.

“It was scary,” said Hudsyn Sandoval, a neighbor who witnessed the incident. “We saw the police running past us with a stretcher, and there was a person on there who was really pale and wasn’t moving.”

Ador’s body was eventually located after an exhaustive search by divers and the use of submersible robots.

“Rescue crews from Unified Fire, South Jordan Fire, and the Utah Highway Patrol dive team searched for hours after Ador went underwater about 35 yards from shore,” Fox 13 reports. “A submersible robot finally located him around 10:40 p.m. Divers recovered his body about 20 minutes later. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Ador, also known as Deng Mayar, according to his family, had played two seasons for the University of North Dakota and was preparing to transfer to the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Both his former school and the school he planned to attend mourned his loss.

“Our hearts are broken to hear the tragic news of Deng’s passing,” said North Dakota head men’s basketball coach Paul Sather. “He was a wonderful person with a heart the size of a gym. Our thoughts are with his parents and family, along with all his teammates from UND and UNO. As competitive as he was on the court, he had a gentle nature and kind soul off the court. Deng will be greatly missed by all of those that knew and loved him.”

Omaha Coach Chris Crutchfield added, “After competing against him for two years, we were elated to add him to our team, and he made tremendous progress this summer. Deng was a joy to be around and made our culture better. We will miss him greatly. Jodi and I, along with our entire program, send our hearts and prayers to Deng’s family, friends, and teammates.”

In the aftermath of the tragedy, Blackridge Reservoir has been closed.