Titans welcome another big man

WATERLOO — George Blakeney arrives just in the nick of time for the Kitchener-Waterloo Titans.

The giant-sized power forward/centre will help take some of the burden off Titans big man Paul Cooper, as the team readies for a swing through the National Basketball League of Canada’s eastern division.

Cooper had carried a sizeable load inside the paint for the expansion Titans and was starting to show the wear and tear, said the team’s general manager Stu Julius.

“We’ve been tracking George on our radar for a couple months,” said Julius. “He is going to be a good fit for us.”

The six-foot-nine, 255-pound Blakeney said he’s happy to bang and crash under the boards.

The North Carolina native landed here after a stint playing pro in Portugal.

“I feel like I’m a good inside presence. Inside and out, I can stretch the floor. I can adjust on the fly,” Blakeney, 25, said following Tuesday’s practice at RIM Park.

“Everybody tells me it’s a physical league. I’m excited to see what I can do.”

The Titans released power forward Jamell Harris last week to make room for Blakeney.

Harris was sidelined with a mysterious nerve injury in his leg that left him with little feeling in his foot.

He is expected to be sidelined for at least a month.

Blakeney joins the 8-11 (wonlost) Titans halfway into their 40-game regular-season schedule.

But he already has a built-in support system with his good friend, Titans forward Kevin Foster.

“George will bring a physical impact in practice, too,” added the Titans’ head coach, Serge Langis.

“Cooper is going to be smashing into a guy in practice who is bigger and more mobile,” Langis added.

“(Blakeney) is going to be a good piece,” the coach said of the former Division III player at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke.

The Titans will fly out to Saint John, N.B. on Wednesday for their game against the Riptide on Thursday.

K-W then boards the bus for a match in Cape Breton on Sunday.

The Titans return home to the Kitchener Aud on March 11 to do battle with the Orangeville A’s.

MATHEW MCCARTHY, RECORD STAFF George Blakeney works out with the K-W Titans at RIM Park on Tuesday. The six-foot-nine, 255-pound power forward/centre will help the team down the middle out east against Saint John and Cape Breton.