The Halcones de Ciudad Obregón (English: ''Ciudad Obregón Falcons'') are a Mexican professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

team based in Ciudad Obregón, Sonora. The Halcones are members of the Circuito de Baloncesto de la Costa del Pacífico (CIBACOPA) and play their games in the Gimnasio Municipal Manuel Lira García.

History

The Trigueros de Ciudad Obregón were founding members of CIBACOPA in 2001, and won three championships until the issue of poor attendance forced the club to abandon the league in 2013. The Halcones were founded in 2016 by a group of local businessmen looking to bring professional basketball back to the city to develop and promote the sport. The team joined the Circuito de Baloncesto de la Costa del Pacífico (CIBACOPA) as an expansion team for the 2016 season, where they had a seventh-place regular-season finish before getting swept 4–0 by the eventual champions Nauticos de Mazatlán in the first round of the playoffs. Ahead of the 2017 season, the Halcones signed American imports

Kevin Capers Kevin Jerome Capers (born May 2, 1993) is an American professional basketball player for Atomerőmű SE of the Hungarian League. He played college basketball for Florida Southern College before playing professionally in the NBA G League, Mexico, ...

, Mike Glover and

Glen Rice Jr. Glen Anthony Rice Jr. (born January 1, 1991) is an American professional basketball player for Brillantes del Zulia of the Superliga Profesional de Baloncesto (SPB). He was drafted by the Philadelphia 76ers in the 2013 NBA draft, but was imme ...

That year in the playoffs, they defeated the Nauticos in seven games before dispatching the Pioneros de Los Mochis in five. In the finals, they defeated Rayos de Hermosillo 4–2 to win their first-ever championship. Rice Jr. was named Finals MVP after averaging a near-30-point triple double in the series. In 2018, the team added

Isaiah Wilkerson Isaiah Jamal Wilkerson (born November 13, 1990) is an American professional basketball player for Dorados de Chihuahua (LNBP), Dorados de Chihuahua of the Liga Nacional de Baloncesto Profesional (LNBP). He finished his collegiate career in 2011– ...

, J. R. Giddens and former Halcón

Geron Johnson Geron Marquis Johnson (born August 9, 1992) is an American professional basketball player for Al Mouttahed Tripoli of the Lebanese Basketball League. He played two seasons of college basketball for the University of Memphis after playing for two ...

. The Halcones had a poor regular season showing, barely clinching a playoff spot with an eighth-place finish. The team again reached the finals, falling to the

Tijuana Zonkeys The Tijuana Zonkeys are a Mexican professional basketball team based in Tijuana, Baja California. The Zonkeys are part of the Circuito de Baloncesto de la Costa del Pacífico (CIBACOPA). They play their home games at the Auditorio Academia Zonkey ...

in a six-game series. In February 2019, Spaniard Pedro Carrillo was hired as head coach, having previously coached the

Ángeles de Puebla Club Ángeles de Puebla was a football team that played in Mexican Primera División and in Primera División A, it had its home in the city of Puebla de Zaragoza in Mexico. The team was founded in the years 1984–85 after the purchase of the C ...

in the LNBP. He also won a LNBP championship with

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in 2016–17 as an assistant. Although he was selected to coach the North squad at the 2019 CIBACOPA All-Star Game in Guadalajara, Carrillo left the team in June for personal reasons. In the postseason, the Halcones lost in the semi-finals to the Mantarrayas de La Paz in seven games. The Halcones lost game seven at home by a score of 105–92 despite 29 points from José Estrada. American former top high school recruit Tony Farmer joined the team in 2020, as did

Jarvis Summers Jarvis Terrell Summers (born March 16, 1993) is an American professional basketball player for the Mineros de Zacatecas of the Liga Nacional de Baloncesto Profesional (LNBP). He played college basketball for Ole Miss. College career Summers ...

and

Reggie Holmes Reggie Holmes (born August 8, 1987) is an American professional basketball player who last played for Kymis of the Greek Basket League. A shooting guard, he is best known for his college career, where he was an All-American and Mid-Eastern At ...

. The Halcones played two games of the 2020 season, losses to Rayos de Hermosillo and Ostioneros de Guaymas, before the league announced the season was suspended due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. Ahead of the 2022 season, the Halcones hired Ariel Rearte as head coach and announced they were moving their home arena from the Gimnasio Municipal Manuel Lira García to the

Arena ITSON Arena ITSON is a 7,464-seat indoor arena located in Ciudad Obregon, Sonora. It was built in 2009 by the Sonora Institute of Technology, for whom it was named and which also owns the Potros ITSON basketball team, which serves as the arena's anchor t ...

Players

Current roster

Notable alumni

Jimmy Hall Jimmy Hall (born April 26, 1949) is the American lead singer and harmonica player for the Southern rock group, Wet Willie. Hall was born in Birmingham, Alabama, and reared in Mobile, Alabama. He first gained notoriety in 1970 as the lead vocal ...

(born 1994)

Head coaches

* Eduardo Opezzo (2017) * Ronald Guillen (2018) * Pedro Carrillo (2019) * Martin Knezevic (2020) * Ariel Rearte (2022–present)

Honours

Domestic competitions

* Circuito de Baloncesto de la Costa del Pacífico ** Winners (1): 2017 ** Runners-up (1): 2018

References

External links

Official site

Team profile
at Latinbasket.com {{CIBACOPA Basketball teams in Mexico Sports teams in Sonora Basketball teams established in 2016 2016 establishments in Mexico