Lightning strikes with 14 home games
The Los Angeles Lightning of the International Basketball League, who crossed our radar earlier this month, will start its inaugural season with a two-game home series against the Battle Creek Knights on April 18-19, the league announced.
All 14 home Lightning games will be played on Friday and Saturday nights at Cal Lutheran’s Gilbert Sports Arena in Thousand Oaks with 7:30 p.m. tipoffs. The team plays eight road games.
Two of the home games will be against China’s Shanxi Knights of the Chinese Basketball League, on May 23-24. The CBL produced current NBA players Yao Ming and Yi Jianlian. The regular season ends June 20-21.
The 22-team IBL is in its fourth season of operation. The season begins March 8.
Woodland Hills’ Mark Harwell, an entertainment industry executive, announced the formation of the Lightning last December, assuming the role of owner/general manager.
More information: www.lalightning.net, with the complete schedule on the IBL site.