CIS Hoops.ca

Rainmen add height, CIS Alumni

The Halifax Rainmen have their man – big man that is.

In need of more size underneath the basket, team owner Andre Levingston helped fill that void yesterday by signing six-foot-11 centre Mark McCarroll, who played NCAA Division 1 basketball with the University of Pittsburgh.

McCarroll, 29, brings plenty of professional hoops experience to Halifax, including for Porvoon Tarmo in Finland where during the 2007-08 campaign he averaged 18 points and 12 rebounds per game.

“He is a player …. just very talented,” said team owner Andre Levingston, adding they’re still looking to bring in “another wide body” before the start of the season. “He’s a proven veteran overseas.”

But as one marquee player comes in, another goes out. The Rainmen also announced yesterday five players have been released, including point guard Jason McLeish, who was pegged to be the team’s starting point guard for the start of the regular season next month.

McLeish is a former NCAA Division I standout with the Eastern Kentucky Colonels and most recently played in the now-defunct Continental Basketball Association with the East Kentucky Miners, averaging 18.6 points and 3.8 assists last season.

“It was nothing off the court, it was just a mixture of him getting sick – he was extremely sick … and then he just came back and had no energy,” Levingston said, adding the team will now be out to find a replacement for him.

“He just didn’t look like he was ready to play basketball. I know that may not be a fair assessment, but he just didn’t have a good camp. He wasn’t the same kid we saw in the summer.”

The Rainmen also announced three more signings – including two with local connections. On board are former Atlantic University Sport guards - Devon Norris of the Dalhousie Tigers and Garry Gallimore of the St. Francis Xavier X-Men.

“Garry probably had the best camp out of all our players,” Levingston proclaimed. “He really impressed us.”

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WolfPack limp into Christmas break

TRU WolfPack men's basketball head coach Thom Gillespie is disappointed with his team's 0-8 start to the Canada West season.

Thom Gillespie is understandably disappointed.

Winless through eight games at the Christmas break, the head coach of the Thompson Rivers University WolfPack men’s basketball squad didn’t expect to start the season 0-8.

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