Quebec City – The hometown Quebec Kebs kicked off the inaugural season of the National Basketball League of Canada with a 102-97 historic victory over the Moncton Miracles.
Quebec Kebs’ Ralphy Holmes scored the first two points in league history with a pair of free-throws as the hometown team jumped out to an early 17-10 lead.
The Miracles continued to battle and connected on a late basket to tie the game at 19-19 after an exciting opening quarter that featured two impressive dunks.
Quebec turned up the interior defence in the second quarter and made it difficult for the Miracles to find the basket leading to a 51-42 half-time advantage.
Much like the first two quarters, the action went back and forth between the two teams with players diving for loose balls and fighting for every rebound.
The Kebs controlled much the third-quarter and maintained a 79-72 advantage after three and stretched the margin to double digits at 86-76 with just under 8:00 to play.
However, Moncton almost got the Miracle it needed when Andrew Francis followed-up a missed jumper and put-back an monster dunk, (his third of the game) to bring Moncton within two points at 97-95.
Quebec iced the game at the foul line and earned their first ever NBLC regular season victory.
Ralphy Holmes led a well balanced Kebs back-court attacked with 19 points as six players reach double-figures. Shaun Fountain added 18 and Jermaine Blackburn finished with 17 points.
Top scores for the Moncton Miracles included point guard Jazzmar Ferguson who finished with a game-high 22 points on 4-of-9 shooting from deep. Andrew Francis was easily the best player on the floor and beasted his way to a impressive double-double with 20 points and game-high 12 rebounds.
As for Canadian players, Ricky Volcy (Montreal QC) was the only player to hit the score sheet with 2 points in just 19 minutes of game time. Yannick Anzuluni (Ottawa, ON) shot 0-2 in just 7 minutes and forward Cordell Jeanty played 16 minutes.
Miracle’s Tristan Martin (Toronto, ON) only received two minutes of action.
The difference in the game came from the charity stripe where Quebec was nearly perfect going 20-22 (90%) while the Miracles could only connect on 28-of-42 shots for 70%.
Quebec moves to 1-0 and will host the Oshawa Power tomorrow afternoon in battle between two promising teams.
The Miracles will hope to improve on their play against the Oshawa Power squad on Nov 3rd.
Game Notes
Halifax Rainmen owner and current league commish was on hand to help kick start the season with brief introduction.
