In 2010, the team also had the distinction to play in the Premier Basketball League (PBL) under the name Capitanes de Puerto Rico.

[2] In 1946, coached by Wilfredo Franco, Tingo Díaz, Piro Méndez and for a pre-Olympic tournament, the Capitanes emerged.

A group of young athletes, mostly from Arecibo, like: Manuel Gilberto (Petaca) Iguina, Quicón Iguina, Abdiel de la Rosa, Alberto Renta, Joaquín Balaguer, Armando Villamil, y Pipe Beníquez showed themselves to be a part of it and dominated the sport in Puerto Rico, finishing in second place.

On August 19, 1959, the Capitanes won their first basketball championship against the Rio Piedras Cardinals at the Rodríguez Olmo Stadium in Arecibo.

In 1992, coached by Alfred “Butch” Lee, the Capitanes returned to the BSN Finals with elite players Ferdinand Morales, Rafael Hernandez, Giovanni Colón, Fitz Roy Brow, Juan Griles, Orlando Febres, Bryan and Mark Santiago, losing a hard-fought series against the Ponce Lions.

The Capitanes in 2002 wrote another page in the history of their city and the BSN when the so-called "kids" broke the predictions of the media and basketball analysts by taking a semi-final series to Game 7 with young talents Giovanni Jiménez, Rick Apodaca, Buster Figueroa, Pachy Cruz and David Cortes; and veterans Félix Javier Perez, Javier Rolón and Oscar Chiaramello.

In 2005, general manager Regino Babilonia hired Carlos Mario Rivera as head coach and the Captains again won the BSN Championship (4-0) over the Bayamón Cowboys.

They came short in 1966 when they lost in overtime against Ponce and in a seventh game finals held at the court of Manuel Carrasquillo Herpen Country Club.

The team was torn between changing Dickey Simpkins or staying with the player that looked more like a fifth man with the added reinforcement that was hurt.

The match had to be stopped and subsequently confiscated, because the team's fans of Bayamón, began throwing objects onto the court and the game could not be terminated.

Donta smith immediately began the annotations for Bayamón, but Larry Ayuso did not remain with folded arms.

All this so that in the next moves, Guillermo Díaz scoring three free throws and Danny Santiago make a dunk that brought the Capitanes to dominate the first quarter 22 - 19.

The Vaqueros tried to answer with some baskets of Christian Dalmau and Robert Traylor, but the Capitanes managed to close strong at the half.

After the steal, Andrés Rodríguez gets the ball and he received a hard foul that led him to the free throw line.

Before Andrés Rodríguez could make his attempts, the fans from Bayamón began a relentless rain of objects and this forced the League officials to confiscate the game in Arecibo's favor.

The Arecibo Captains succeeded for the first time in its history the feat of winning two consecutive championships in the National Superior Basketball League.

Later, Peter John Ramos scored six points for the Pirates string and these were answered by seven consecutive Danny Santiago of Arecibo.

He was lord and master of the show and made two free throws and hit a triple that sentenced the Pirates to defeat.

As well as the original BSN team, they had a roster for PBL play that included selections in that league's player draft.

Other international players signed by the Capitanes during the off-season were Elías Larry Ayuso, Angelo Reyes and Walter Hodge.

[5] Antonio Látimer and José Rosario completed the signings, while Hodge left during the season to join the Cangrejeros.

[6] Their performance earned the team constant inclusion in MLN Sports' basketball rankings, debuting in the fourth spot.

[10] The Capitanes subsequently won their first contests against the Manchester Millrats (116:104) and Vermont Frost Heaves (114:103), establishing a lead in the league's standings.

[11][12] The Capitanes' next game was against the team that held the second place in the standing, the Lawton-Fort Sill Cavalry (3-0), winning with scores of 101:94.

[citation needed] In March 2010, the PBL announced that it was forced to expel the franchise due to an alleged failure to adhere to its rules & guidelines.

The team's lawyers filed a complaint seeking a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction before federal court in Puerto Rico.

After the attorneys conducted oral arguments before Federal Judge Juan Perez Gimenez the court entered a temporary restraining order against the PBL instructing the league to immediately reinstate the Capitanes and allow them to participate in the 2010 playoffs.

The matter received extensive media coverage and the PBL was forced to accept its wrongdoing by setting aside the expulsion of the team.

As runners-up of the 2007 BSN season, the Capitanes were selected to represent Puerto Rico in the first edition of the FIBA Americas League, along with the BSN-champion Santurce Crabbers.

[18] Before the competition began, the Capitanes' coach, David Rosario, stated that the team's preparation was intense so that they would be able to adapt in order to match the advantage expected to be presented by Fuerza Regia and Halcones Xalapa, since the tournament occurred in the middle of the Liga Nacional de Baloncesto Profesional season.