Toledo’s professional minor-league basketball team, Toledo Glass City B.C. is now the Glass City Wranglers. And like last season, they finished their season in the top of their league.
The Wranglers’ season ended June 3 in the second round of the playoffs after a loss of 128 to 120 in overtime to the Kokomo BobKats. The game was hard fought and the Wranglers’ head coach Freddy Zamora enjoyed watching the team grow throughout the season.
“I think we did a good job of fighting adversity and sticking together,” Zamora said. “It didn’t happen until late in the season, but it was awesome watching it come together. I enjoyed how resilient this team was and especially liked how hard they fought in the last game. They left it all out there.”
Anthony Shook founded Toledo Glass City B.C. in 2020 for the Premier Basketball League’s (PBL) 2020-2021 season. It was this season that the team went undefeated in the and won the PBL tournament championship. In the 2022 season, the team joined The Basketball League (TBL) and changed its name to Glass City Wranglers.
Zamora says that TBL is as good as it gets outside of the NBA and the NBA’s G-League (the NBA’s minor league) in the United States. The Wranglers’ coach has recently secured a position as an international scout with Rosales Sports Agency, helping athletes sign professional contracts world-wide. Zamora has helped players sign professional contracts in Mexico, Canada, Dominican Republic, Syria, Chile, Venezuela and more.
“TBL gives players a great opportunity to showcase their talents and gives them the possibility to play all over the world,” Zamora said.
Wranglers point guard Chris Darrington was awarded Rookie of the Year last season and has averaged 30 points a game this season. He has secured multiple tryouts for the NBA G League and has played professional ball in other countries, an opportunity TBL afforded him because it provided high quality film of the games and had Fiva statistics available on all the players in TBL. Darrington’s dream is to play in the NBA’s G League one day.
“I’m really blessed to have had the opportunity to play basketball overseas,” Darrington said. “I like how The Basketball League gives guys the opportunity to play professionally in the United States. People at this age have families and they don’t want to leave them behind and [TBL] gives us the opportunity – especially me having two little boys – to play locally while still making money.”
According to Zamora, approximately half the team is made up of local athletes and the other half is from the Cleveland area. The Wranglers look for talent in local high school basketball teams and put out a call for open tryouts every fall. Interested athletes are encouraged to follow the teams social media accounts for tryout announcements.
“I’m always watching film or highlights that people send me,” Zamora said. “I also always keep an ear out for who is available.”
Next Season, Zamora would like to continue to see the home games at Owens Community College grow in attendance.
“I would like to continue improving our fanbase and continue spreading the word about the professional basketball team in Toledo,” Zamora said.
The Wranglers ended their current season in the top 16 teams out of 49 in TBL. Wranglers games are shot locally by BCSN. The local sports network can be found exclusively on Buckeye Broadband.
