For those who are unfamiliar or have not heard of yet – Pro Basketball has returned to Vancouver.
The name of the new league is called the North American Premier Basketball League and is made up of 8 teams, with possible expansion set for the coming season.
The season consists of 32 games playing in a 4 months period from January to April with playoffs during the month of May.
The teams in the league consist of Vancouver Knights, Yakima SunKings, Kansas City Tornados, Nevada Desert Dogs, Rochester RazorSharks, Albany Patroons, Ohio Cardinals and Kentucky Thoroughbreds.
Vancouver’s team has played games at the Richmond Olympic Oval, with other venues being looked at for future games, that are played only on weekends.
Vancouver’s team is called the Vancouver Knights and are looking at getting more exposure in the area as well as support from the community.
The league’s official website is listed as www. Napbasketball.com and it’s interesting that the league’s first game saw Rochester visit Albany on Dec 31st.
Vancouver’s first game for the Knights was played January 5, 2018 against Yakima, but managed to come up short dropping the game by a 97-84 margin at the Yakima Sundome, but rebounded the following day by pulling off a 90-84 win.
The Knight next game was played January 12th against the Nevada Desert Dogs unfortunately dropping the game by a close 119-115 margin played in Mesquite Nevada, located east of Las Vegas on hwy 15.
They returned to play at home at the Richmond Olympic Oval taking on Yakima splitting a pair of games with the Desert Dogs heading into February.
The game on the 21st and 22nd saw them stay Knights with the Dessert Dogs for the opening quarter in a game that saw the game tied 9 times.
Nevada controlled in the opening quarter grabbing a 39-34 lead that saw the game remain close in the second.
The Dessert Dogs opened up a 15 point lead late in the quarter grabbing a 78-65 lead heading to the intermission.
The third saw Vancouver come out strong in the third clearing controlling the play managing to outscore the “Dogs” by 29-24 closing the gap to 10 points.
Nevada maintained a 10 point lead heading to the fourth quarter with Vancouver quickly closing the gap to 8 points.
The finish was extremely exciting only to have Vancouver drop a “squeaker” by a score of 137-116 for the second last game of January.
While the league is “new” to the area, it’s exciting end to end action and if you have not taken in a game make plans on attending one of the upcoming games throughout Super Bowl weekend at the Oval.
While many I have spoken to have not heard about the league of yet, they will soon be taking about this league on a regular basis.
We will have more to follow on the league, the Vancouver franchise and the players with everyone committed to making this a viable success.
Sportswave wishes them all the best moving forward and appreciate all the assistance they have given to us.
If you are looking at getting involved with the team please contact Jacky at the following number 778 709 9689
He is the team Branding Ambassador for the Vancouver Knights of the North American Premier Basketball league.
Game coverage by Bruce Nolte and Steve
Game Notes:
1st Quarter
27-17 Vancouver
2nd Quarter
55-46 Vancouver
3rd Quarter
80-75 Vancouver
4th Quarter
111-105 Vancouver
Leading scored:
Vancouver
Darius Paul 27 PTS 12 REB
Vance Cooksey 24 PTS 5 AST
Demitri Harris 13 PTS
Nevada
Jalen Kendrick 26 PTS 11 REB
Dominick Sholer 16 PTS 5 BLK
