SUNDAY BANDIT: ENIOJOUKAN SHINES FOR ONTARIO PRO TEAM 

Former John Abbott star Sunday Eniojukan couldn't resist the temptation to test his skills in Canada's newest pro basketball league, and make a few bucks along the way.

The 6-6 forward, who played for Fairfield in Division-I, now suits up for the Barrie Bandits of the Ontario Professional Basketball League (OPBA). His team is 1-1 after two games, and he shares the court with former National Team standout and overseas veteran Martin Keane.

Eniojukan, always known as a great athlete, has fit right in with the athletic Bandits, averaging 14 points and 10.5 rebounds through two games last week. His dunking prowess is especially wanted, because dunks in the OPBA are worth three points!

Eniojukan is one of Montreal's more interesting basketball stories.

He came over from Nigeria when he was seven years old, and learned his basketball with the West Island Lakers and John Abbott (during their glory years in the early-mid 90s). 

In 1996, he was spotted at Andy Hertzog's Montreal Showcase by an 
assistant coach at Fairfield (Conn.) and the rest was history. He 
moved to Fairfield to join former Montmorency star Didier Boucard and Oakwood legend Greg Francis from Toronto to form one of the up and coming D-I programs in America.

Their crowning achievement came in the 1997 NCAA Tournament, when they gave North Carolina (and future Raptor Vince Carter) a scare in the 
first round before eventually falling by a score of 82-74.

Eniojukan guarded Carter for most of the game, and was able to slow 
him down enough to keep Fairfield in the game.

Sunday finished his career as a two-year starter, but decided to pursue a career on Wall Street

^{At Fairfield, Sunday played against North Carolina and Vince Carter (far left).}

instead of the basketball court.

That all changed on September 11, 2001, when his friend and fellow Wall Street colleague Boucard phoned him from the office to say something terrible had happened downtown and that he should stay home.

Their office was right across the street from the doomed World Trade Centre towers, and Boucard was already at his desk when the first plane struck.

"Didier escaped down the street just as (the first tower) fell," Eniojukan recalled in a weekend interview with QHoops.net. "But he was overcome by the dust."

Boucard wasn't seriously injured, but he and Sunday decided that life in Canada was much safer. Both returned home soon after the terrorist attacks.

While Boucard took a steady job in Montreal, Sunday decided to try Toronto life instead. He's currently working for a consulting company, but he got bitten by the basketball bug earlier this year when the OPBA announced its summer launch.

"When I heard about this I said let me just jump on it, you never know what might happen," he said.

He made the team, and soon realized that the quality of ball was even better than his D-I experience.

"Most of the teams in that league are (D-I) level or even higher because a lot of the players are former college guys," said Sunday, whose team plays and practices about an hour's drive north of his Mississauga home. "I'd definitely say it's higher than NCAA."

New Canadian basketball leagues are sometimes met with skepticism because of their high failure rate. But Sunday believes the small-market feel of the OPBA, and its grassroots emphasis, is a recipe for success.

"Barrie, London, Waterloo, Windsor, Guelph, those places are pretty small markets where fans don't get to see a lot of ball," he said. "That's very smart. The guys that started the league, I think they put a lot of thought into how they're going to do it."

Sunday says he has the added pressure of representing Montreal as the only Quebec player in the entire league.

But he invites other former college 'ballers from Quebec to email him at stagmania@hotmail.com if they're interested in pursuing their pro dreams right here in Canada, with the OPBA.