Montreal Kaitas wins NACBAIT

The Montreal Kaitas have won the Friendship Division in this years NACBAIT Tournament. This is the biggest basketball tournament for the Chinese community in all of North America. The Montreal Kaitas are the 2018 champs in the NACBAIT Friendship Division. This came after a 37-34 win thanks to a last second shot by Keith Cayanong. Although Cayanong won his team the tournament with a buzzer beater, this was an all-around dominant performance by the whole Kaitas squad. They went undefeated in the tournament because of the collection of some of Montreal's best Chinese players who have played at the collegiate level including Kevin Duong (Dalhousie University and Dawson College), Ching Ho (Cegep Vieux-Montréal), Johnson Chen (College Maisonnneuve), Steven Chieng (Brandon University and College Maisonneuve) and the Cayaong brothers, Keith and Jon (Dawson College) all led by coach Francis Poon.

From U13 to U15 to U18 to the Open, Friendship, and Women's division, all the way up to the 40+ and 50+ division, this annual tournament shows how much basketball is integrated in the Chinese community and this just a sample. Basketball is known to be one of the most popular sports in China. Seeing the success of the Montreal Kaitas further shows how that influence carried over here. This is was a win for the Kaitas in the NACBAIT, but a bigger win for the Chinese basketball community, especially in Montreal.