Prov Sky Chiefs Join Premier Basketball League, Start Season on Sunday
Thursday, January 07, 2016
The Providence Sky Chiefs are back. This season, the Sky Chiefs will compete in the Premier Basketball League, as the league's latest expansion team.
Providence makes their PBL debut on Sunday, January 10 at 6 p.m. at the JWU Wildcat Center.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST‘We are excited to join the PBL, an established organization comprised of quality teams from top to bottom throughout out the league. The PBL has strong, professional leadership at the helm, a solid structure in place and holds its teams to very high standards. This is a great league for professionals to showcase their talent in an attempt to jump to the NBA,” said Sky Chiefs President and General Manager Antonio Lopes.
The Sky Chiefs are one of two expansion teams entering the season. The other being the Kentucky Mavericks.
2016 Sky Chiefs
This season, the Sky Chiefs return six players from last seasons team including leading scorer and Pawtucket native Shane DaRosa who averaged 17 points per game and earned all-league honors in Providence's first season.
The Sky Chiefs also return University of Rhode Island alums Ryan Brooks and Jason Francis, both of whom started last season. A third URI alum has been added to the team in Parfait Bitee, who was named A-10 Defensive Player of the Year while at URI and is in his seventh professional season.
Providence also return DeShaune Green, who averaged in double figures and hit a shot at the buzzer to win the BENRUS Professional Basketball Championship for the Sky Chiefs last season.
Corey Wright and Marc Alexander also return to the Sky Chiefs after they both averaged in double figures last season.
Success in Year One
The Sky Chiefs, owned by BENRUS CEO and Chairman, Giovanni Feroce, are coming off a successful inaugural season in which they won several titles, including the Surf Classic in San Diego, a regional championship and the 2015 BENRUS Pro Basketball Championship.
“We are overjoyed to be able to bring a fine organization like the Providence Sky Chiefs into the PBL. Having Providence in the PBL helps the league across many platforms and continues to show our fans, advertisers, and sponsors how serious we are with the teams we allow into the PBL. The Sky Chiefs is a first class organization, in a first class city," said PBL Commissioner Dennis Truax.
About the Premier Basketball League
The Premier Basketball League was established in 2008 and enters the 2016 season with 18 teams in three divisions. The PBL announced a new partnership with ESPN3 for the upcoming season. ESPN 3 is set to show over 30 PBL games live.
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