Basketball will be the sport of choice on Thursday at the Avenir Centre in Moncton.

The Moncton Motion will hit the court for their home opener against the Bathurst Bears.

Vice-President for the Eastern Canadian Basketball League Dwayne Tingley says the team is ready to entertain, “We have a player who flew in this week from Switzerland. We have players from all of the United States, and all over Canada, and we have a couple of Maritimers on the team. They’re looking forward to it. They’ve been working hard,” Tingley says.

Tingley says he’s hoping to see a lot of fans come out, “Saint John drew 2000 for their first game. Bathurst, the first ever pro-basketball game there and they responded in a huge way. They had 3000 fans at their first game.”

Lots of pre-game activities and ceremonies are planned with special guests, including spirit singers from Elsipogtog First Nation, Mayor Dawn Arnold and Krista Richard who runs a local  youth basketball program.

The tip-off is at 7 o’clock.

Tickets are still available for tonight’s game.