Mill Rats Begin 2014-15 Season on the Road
November 1, 2014 - National Basketball League of Canada (NBL Canada)
Saint John Riptide News Release
(Saint John, NB): The Saint John Mill Rats begin the 2014-15 season on the road with games today and Thursday in Moncton and Charlottetown, respectively. The Mill Rats home opener is slated for Sunday November 9th at 2PM versus the Island Storm.
Tonight the Mill Rats visit the Moncton Coliseum to face the Miracles at 7PM AST. Saint John beat Moncton on Wednesday 108-104 in a preseason game at Harbour Station. Since then the Miracles have acquired 6'6 forward Dwayne Smith in a trade for Cordell Jeanty, and signed 6'10 centre Shamus Ferguson, who spent 3 years with the Mississauga Power.
Saint John whittled its roster down to the league-mandated 12 players, including a minimum of 4 Canadian players, on Friday. To do so, 6'7 forward Jahmal McQueen was traded to the Windsor Express for a 3rd round pick in the 2015 draft, and then former Dalhousie Tiger, 6'4 guard Matt Brooks, was acquired.
The most difficult decision came down to releasing point guard Raheem Singleton, who has an offer to play in Mongolia along with one in the US in the PBL for former Mill Rats Coach Rob Spon.
"Radio was one of the toughest decisions I've ever had to make," said Mill Rats General Manager Ian McCarthy. "The League mandated 4 Canadians this year - that means out of our 7 reserve players only 3 could be US players, and we elected to go with Winbush, Crookshank, and JP who are all front line players. We just could not carry a 3rd point guard."
"Certainly it made it easier to know he had overseas offers. Radio is a guy I've followed since high school and I encouraged him to attend the draft which led him to London. We had Blalock at the time, but when Will got hurt, and Radio had been waived by London, I didn't hesitate to bring him to Saint John."
6'10 centre Modibo Diarra remains a part of the team as a Community- Liaison and practice player.
"Dibo has family responsibilities and has not been able to attend practices and travel to away games like we would need him to. We respect that and are working with him in other areas, but he will participate in practice when he can and is available should a player get injured."
2014-15 Opening Day Roster
3 Aquille Carr 5'5 PG Princeton Day Academy Baltimore, MD
10 Matt Brooks 6'4 G Dalhousie Halifax, NS
11 Dane Smith 6'2 G Tennessee-Martin Toronto, ON
12 Anthony Anderson 5'11 G UMass Lynn, MA
20 Eric Crookshank 6'8 PF Cal State-Dominguez Hills Oakland, CA
21 Kenny Jones 6'6 PF Kentucky State Long Island, NY
23 Jabs Newby 6'2 PG Gannon University Brampton, ON
24 Anthony Winbush 6'7 SF Loyola Alexandria, VA
33 Peter Wedge 6'8 SF Saint John High Saint John, NB
34 Tyrone Levett 6'5 F Alabama State Notasulga, AB
35 Naofall Folahan 6'11 C Wagner College Benin, Africa
41 JP Nyadaro 6'8 PF Trevecca Nazarene Kenya, Africa
---42 Modibo Diarra 6'10 C Memphis Mali Africa
Head Coach: Julian King
Assistant Coaches: Randy Loatman, Paul Vaughan, Jim Palmer, Aaron Drummond
National Basketball League of Canada Stories from November 1, 2014
- Express Open Season with OT Loss - Windsor Express
- Power Spoil A's Home Opener - Orangeville A's
- Lightning Win Home Opener in Overtime - London Lightning
- Power Start Season with Win in Brampton - Mississauga Power
- Mill Rats Post Dominating Performance in Season Opener - Saint John Riptide
- Mill Rats Begin 2014-15 Season on the Road - Saint John Riptide
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