Nate Darling makes Nova Scotia basketball history

Bedford'sNate Darling became the first Nova Scotian to play in the NBA regular season on Saturday night.

The 22-year-old Darling, a shooting guard, played four minutes late in the game for the Charlotte Hornets in a 114-104 win over the Toronto Raptors in Charlotte, N.C.

He attempted one shot, missing a three-point attempt from 25 feet.

It was the first game of the season that the Hornets were allowed to have fans in the stands and about 3,000 attended.

The six-foot-five Darling, who played at the University of Alabama at Birmingham for two seasons before transferring to the University of Delaware,passed up hisfinal year in the NCAAto enter the NBA draft in the off-season. In his only year at Delaware, he set the school record for made three-pointers with 107.

He was not selected in the draft and signed a two-way contract with the Hornets as a free-agent.

He played in two games in the pre-season, both against the Raptors, and started the year on Charlotte's roster. He was eventually sent to the Greensboro Swarm of the NBA's development league, where he averaged 8.9 points per game over 13 games.

He was recalled to Charlotte last week, but didn't play in his first chance on Thursday against the Detroit Pistons.

Darling left Nova Scotia to play high school basketball in Maryland.

In 2015,he scored 50 points to help Nova Scotia defeat Ontario in the gold-medal game of the Canadian under-17 championship played in Halifax.