The Halifax Rainmen need to bounce back quickly, and they’ll have to find their shooting touch to do it.
After an atrocious night from the field in their Premier Basketball League season-opener in Oklahoma on Sunday, the Rainmen can ill-afford a repeat showing tonight when they visit the Quebec Kebs at the University of Laval.
Long-bomber Desmond Ferguson went just one-for-eight from three-point range, while the Rainmen shot just four-for-25 in a 102-87 loss to the Lawgon-Fort Sill Cavalry.
“It wasn’t like they were bad or contested shots,” said Ferguson, who shot a deadly 45.2 per cent from beyond the arc his past three professional seasons.
“They were wide-open shots, shots I’m going to take every time and usually make every time. Unfortunately, it was just a bad night. Hopefully, we got our bad shooting night out of the way for the rest of the season.”
Newly-signed small forward Gregory Plummer and six-foot-10 centre Cory Underwood are expected to make their Rainmen debuts tonight.
The Kebs, meanwhile, are set to unleash former PBL most valuable player Jeremy Bell, a six-foot-one point guard who they inked earlier this week.
The Rainmen, who make their home debut on Sunday against the Kebs, know their season can spiral quickly out of control due to the league’s short 20-game schedule and the fact that only four of nine teams qualify for the playoffs.
“We can’t come out 0-2,” the 32-year-old Ferguson said.
“It’s early and the season’s not going to be won or lost by the first game, but we can’t let that second loss happen.”
