The Halifax Rainmen are hoping Taliek Brown’s winning pedigree will push them closer to a championship.
The Rainmen officially signed the former Connecticut Huskies point guard yesterday, adding a talented playmaker who started for an NCAA championship team in 2004.
Brown, now 27, ran the floor for UConn stars such as Ben Gordon and Emeka Okafur, finishing fourth in the NCAA in assists in 2003-04 with 6.7 helpers per game and averaging 7.8 points during his solid four-year college career.
“He’s just a winner,” said Rainmen owner Andre Levingston. “The kid is amazing to watch. Within the first half hour, he knew all our sets. You showed it to him once, he got it.”
The six-foot-one native of Queens, N.Y., has spent the past five years bouncing around various professional leagues in Venezuela, Mexico, Bulgaria, Croatia and Macedonia.
Gary Ervin, who registered the franchise’s first triple-double last week, will remain the team’s starting point guard, Levingston said. Brown will be among the first off the bench. The Rainmen host the Puerto Rico Capitanes on Friday at 7 p.m. The Capitanes, 11-1, are first in the Premier Basketball League, a game and a half ahead of the Rainmen, 9-2. It’s a big game that could decide who finishes first overall and Levingston said Brown is expected to get plenty of floor time.
“He just really raised the energy level in the building since he arrived,” Levingston said. “The last two days of practice has been unbelievable and the kid is just smart.”
