Mark your calendars, Dakota Magic fans.
The team will play its first regular-season home game Thursday, Sept. 1 at the Corn Palace against the Sioux City Hornets.
But for the time being, the two teams are getting to know each other quite well. The teams played Saturday for the second time in less than a month in a preseason contest at the Boys and Girls Club in Sioux City. After a 119-118 decision for the Hornets May 22, the Magic came back with a 124-114 victory on Saturday. The team was led in scoring by Jamie Pearson, the former Nebraska Wesleyan player who scored 31 points. Former Mount Marty Lancer Saladin Smith scored 28 points and reigning Great Plains Athletic Conference player of the year Trey Bardsley, of Nebraska Wesleyan, scored 18 points for the Magic.
For now, the Magic roster remains pretty fluid but National Basketball League of America president and team coach Darryl Greene said Bardsley has been signed to the Magic's roster. More are expected to be added through a draft later this month ahead of an August training camp. There's also going to be an exhibition game or two at the Corn Palace ahead of the regular season.
"We're going to have a lot of really good GPAC players," Greene said. "The team is coming along."
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Greene said the franchise has also nailed down dates to play in the Corn Palace, starting in September. Those dates will mostly include mid-week nights and weekend afternoons and the NBLA season will run from September to November.
"It was mostly about solidifying dates and finding time that wouldn't clash with other events scheduled for the Corn Palace," Greene said.
The Magic have also booked some additional opponents for after the regular NBLA season will be over. Greene told The Daily Republic this week that the Magic will play teams in the Premier Basketball League in early 2017.
Greene said the opportunity to play additional teams and be an extended part of the Premier Basketball League came through his relationship with Dennis Truax, the league commissioner of the PBL. Truax is a former commissioner of the Continental Basketball Association, in which Greene was an assistant coach with the Minot Skyrockets.
"When he found out about our league, he wanted to be involved," Greene said. "We're going to be playing our league season and then we're going to be in the PBL as well, and we'll go on a road trip and play the Midwest teams as well."
Greene said the NBLA will crown a champion which will have a chance to be a part of the PBL playoffs at the end of their season, which runs from January to April.
The PBL, which calls itself "the triple-A league of professional basketball," has 17 teams in three different divisions spanning from Massachusetts and Rhode Island to North Carolina and into Illinois and Michigan. The Midwest Division teams include the Lake Michigan Admirals, Kentucky Mavericks, Indianapolis Diesels and the Danville (Ill.) Riverhawks.
