MBB: CAPERS kick off exhibition season

Oct 5th– The Cape Breton University CAPERS Men's basketball team will kick off their 2018-19 basketball season Friday night. The CAPERS are participating in the StFX invitational tournament. They will be taking on the X-Men in the first round of the tournament, while the St Mary's Huskies and Dalhousie Tigers make up the other side of the bracket.

The CAPERS come into the season with a revamped roster, that will be led by head coach Matt Skinn. After leaving CBU for personal reasons and spending two years with the Calgary Dinos, Skinn is returning for his fifth year as head coach of the CAPERS.

Skinn and Dinos head coach Dan Vanhooren won two Canada West championships and the 2017-18 National Championship over the past two seasons.

"Everything that Coach Dan Vanhooren has done for me and my career will never be repaid.  His desire to have me on staff for my first coaching experience up until winning a National title with him is something I will never forget."

Along with the return of Coach Skinn, came some big roster changes. The roster is made up of three returning players and 12 newcomers to the program.

The returnees will play big roles on this year's team. Forward Shacier Locke played for Coach Skinn in 2013 and rejoined the CAPERS two seasons ago. Guards Paul Watson and Osman Omar both had strong debut seasons for the CAPERS and look to grow on last year's success.

The team will also see some players returning after taking breaks from the team. Tevin Bartley another one of Coach Skinn's former players, will be returning after a two-year absence. In his final game of 2016, he notched 16 points in the playoffs against Acadia. Liam MacDonald-Stapleton also is making his return after playing for the CAPERS in the 2016-17 season and taking last season off. Jacob Simmons will also be making his return to the court this season, after transferring to CBU from Memorial University in Newfoundland.

There are three international players coming to the CAPERS this season. Guard Artur Arhangelski, Forward David Hahn and Forward Dennis Joiner.

The four incoming freshmen include two local players, Jason Callaghan and Noah Dunn. Rounding out the rookie class is Eugene Kankue from Ottawa and Ibrahim Gosselin-Diawara from Longueuil. The group will look to add as much to the team as they can during their debuts in the AUS.

There are two redshirts featured on this year's roster in Clark Kang and Izaiah Ugualah. Clark who hails from China was able to walk on and secure a roster spot, while Izaiah is a transfer the UBC Thunderbirds. Coming from a big program in UBC Izaiah will be relied on to share his winning experience and attitude with the rest of the roster, despite having to sit out this season.

Coach Skinn is ecstatic about his group for this season.

"With so many new players, everyone is excited to be on the floor together and try to earn their playing time this season.  The guys have a great collective attitude for improvement and are working extremely hard.  Our system will take some time to install and perfect, but we should be able to make up for our mistakes with our team first play, and our great enthusiasm and effort.  We are looking forward to the season!"

Skinn will not be alone guiding the team. He has four assistant coaches with expansive basketball backgrounds who each bring something different to the table.

Chris Rao a native of Welland, Ontario coached with the U17 Nova Scotia Provincial Team that brought home gold at the 2018 Nationals.

Ron Shaw, a leader in the community, brings over 30 years of experience dating back to Coach Skinn's playing days.

Dennis Stapleton, a local club and high school coach is also the Rep Team Coordinator for Basketball Cape Breton.

David Ogbuah, The Riverview High School Head Coach, will also be giving his time to helping out the CAPERS.

The players have a ton of experience and expertise to help them throughout the season, giving them a leg-up on the competition.

Once the CAPERS wrap up their exhibition tournament, they will head to Ontario for games against McMaster (October 19th), York (October 20th) and Guelph (October 21st).

Once the Exhibition schedule is finished, the CAPERS will kick-off the regular season with a weekend series in Halifax against last season's regular season champs, Dalhousie.

The CAPERS Men's Basketball team can be found on twitter @CAPERSMensBB and on Instagram @capersbasketball.