Upwards of 2,700 fans packed UVic’s CARSA on Thursday night for the Toronto Raptors intrasquad scrimmage.
The NBA basketball team completes its four-day training camp in the Victoria area today.
We raised $85,000 for the Golf for Kids Charity Classic last night! Thank you @Raptors @the_raptor fans! #wethenorth pic.twitter.com/bHpBPASVu9
— UVic Vikes (@uvicvikes) September 29, 2017
The night featured appearances by the Raptors Dance Pak, Raptors alum Muggsy Bogues and The Raptor (mascot) himself.
“No other team has an entire country as a fan base. The great enthusiasm got our players’ juices going … the crowd got us going,” Raptors head coach Dwane Casey said on the Vikes website. “These are excellent basketball fans and they know the game.”
The actual game saw team black trump team white 89-63 thanks to 17 points from Norman Powell and four three-pointers from Andy Rautins. Team black boasted NBA all-star Kyle Lowry who scored 11 points and a team-high six assists.
Kyle Wiltjer led team white with 17 points, including five-straight three-pointers and nine attempts in total.
Wiltjer, also a member of Canada’s national team, is the son of former Vikes men’s basketball star Greg Wiltjer, a six-foot-11 Olympian who won a national championship with UVic.
Victoria is just one stop on the Raptors’ pre-season list as they head to Hawaii for two games against the L.A. Clippers, Oct. 1 and 3, jet back up the coast to play in Portland against the Trail Blazers, Oct. 5, and then wrap-up their pre-season playing Detroit in Toronto on Oct. 10 and the Bulls in Chicago on Oct. 13.
Proceeds from the intrasquad game raised $85,000 for Golf for Kids Charity Classic.
