The renewed Albany entry pulls away from Rochester for a 110-92 victory.
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The first game in North American Premier Basketball (NAPB) league history is in the books.
Mark the Albany Patroons as the first team to win in the NAPB as they found a way to take an early lead, hold it, build on it and roll to a 110-92 victory in Rochester against the host RazorSharks for a New Year’s Eve tip-off in front of a solid, opening night crowd.
Albany (1-0) led 54-43 at the halftime break and never allowed the RazorSharks (0-1) to really get anything going in terms of a rally for an opening night comeback.
Albany was led in the win by Edwin Ubiles who led a five double-figure scorers with 24 points while Torren Jones (21 points), Lloyd Johnson (20 points), Smush Parker (16 points) and Steven Cuningham (11 points),
The RazorSharks’ big performances came from Nick Waddell (16 points, 13 rebounds) and John Ivy (15 points).
“They came out and beat us in every aspect of the game tonight,” Rochester head coach Chris Iversen said. “They showed a certain level of toughness that we did not match. They deserve all the credit and we found out that we definitely have some work to do.
“It was a good first night for the league because it showed right off the bat that things are going to be very competitive this year, and I think each team is looking forward to the challenge of playing in this league.”
Five other games are planned for next weekend including the RazorSharks traveling to Albany for a rematch on Saturday at 7:05 pm. Rochester will host the Ohio Cardinals at 2:05 pm on Sunday.