The Prince Albert Basketball Association (PABA) aimed to give the sport a boost in the city of Prince Albert with its Urban Sole Series Tournament at Carlton on April 18-19.
PABA Chair Ermar “Don” Maquilan and Trevor McKay from tournament sponsors Urban Sole and Underground Performance said they had 10 teams in two polls over the weekend. That’s an increase over the eight teams they had for their last tournament in September.
“This is good exposure, but I felt like it was coming along and eventually we’ll kind of get there,” McKaysaid. “It’s such a hockey town, so it was kind of hard to get traction. It’s tough.
“Honestly, Don’s been doing it for quite some time. I just thought of maybe trying to do something open, trying to bring more exposure to the basketball season.”
The event included teams from Beardy’s, Big River First Nation, Regina, Edmonton, Calgary and Winnipeg. McKay said there was a great mix of professional players including Michael Linklater who entered his own team and several former university players in attendance.
The last time PABA hosted their Winter Madness Tournament there were six teams and just local teams so Maquilan was happy to see the growth.
“Now we’re all over across Saskatchewan,” Maquilan said.
A player from the Whitefish Lakers (from Big River) drives the lane against the Hustle Gang from Beardy’s in the Red Gym at Carlton during Saturday action at the PABA Urban Sole Series.
The team that finished first earned $10,000 for their efforts, while second earned $5,000 and third took home $2,000.
“That’s the only way you’re going to get these big names to come out,” McKay said. “Prince Albert is such a far drive for Alberta. We actually had a few teams drop out.”
McKay said having the weather cooperate, with the Friday snowstorm missing Prince Albert, also helped with attendance.
Both Maquuilan and Mckay are happy to see the growth year-over-year with PABA events.
“This last season to this season is like definitely way different,” McKay said. “The level of basketball players that are here (has) everybody saying ‘you haven’t seen this in Saskatchewan in a long time.’”
Both Maquilan and McKay were happy to use the Carlton gyms with games being played in both the CPAC Gym and the Red Gym.
” Everybody says it’s a beautiful gym so far anyways. I think it’s the nicest gym in Saskatchewan,” Mckay said.
They said the plan is to host a tournament of this scale once a year.
“I would try to get a little bit more sponsorships. It was a little bit hard to get sponsorships because I felt like everybody was kind of iffy about the basketball scene here. Like I said, it’s such a hockey town with these tournaments,” McKay explained.
“If we can do it once a year, hopefully we get more teams out and some more sponsors that’ll be interested. I think (there is) more room to grow.”
McKay said that he was the one who had the idea and brought teams out but Maquilan did the hard work. Maquilan was also thankful to McKay for his work.
“I am so thankful for Trevor. Generally, for Prince Albert to have this all guest from outside PA, right, this wouldn’t be possible without him,” Maquilan said.
McKay said that he is thankful that there is some high-quality basketball and that Prince Albert can be viewed as more than just a hockey town.
“It’s a little bit easier when you have a lot of passion for a sport, right? You want to see this type of games,” McKay said. “Even though I have a team in here, I’m not too sure how we’re going to do, but…I just like the competition and just seeing the players come out. It’s good for Prince Albert and for the younger generation.”
Maquilan thanked all of the volunteers and sponsors for doing their part to make the weekend such as success.
michael.oleksyn@paherald.sk.ca
