River Lions stung at home
The Edmonton Stingers continue to be a source of frustration for the Niagara River Lions.
The Stingers knocked off the River Lions 105-98 Friday night in overtime in a battle of the top two teams in the Canadian Elite Basketball League.
The Stingers not only took the season series from the River Lions 3-1, but also handed Niagara their first loss on home court this season after eight straight wins.
“We do play well at home but they’re a really good basketball team,” River Lions coach/general manager Victor Raso said. “We’ve been watching them all year and have seen them come together. Having said that, we lost the rebounding battle by 20 tonight and we lost the game in overtime at home.
“I didn’t think we defended that poorly, but if you give up 21 offence rebounds, you’re not going to win basketball games.”
Raso said the club did not take the end of the winning streak at home lightly.
“Our guys are pissed, that’s the reality of it,” he said. “We expect to win every time we play and we haven’t lost here before.”
Raso said it’s important the River Lions learn from the loss.
“There’s two ways to handle it. You can blame someone else or you can look at it and make the corrections you need to make.”
The Stingers and River Lions both sport 12-4 records heading into the final couple of weeks of the regular season and seem destined to meet in the league finals.
“That’s been what we’ve been talking about since we played them out there,” Raso said. “We’re going to have to go through a team like that to win a championship.”
Veteran Sam Muldrow agreed the Stingers are a force to be reckoned with.
“The big thing for us (against Edmonton) is the rebounding,” Muldrow said. “They have a pretty big team and they’re good at rebounding. We have to do a better job on the boards against them and have to come better prepared.
“We have to come back tomorrow and bring the same mentality to win.”
The River Lions are in Guelph Saturday and then wrap up the regular season with three games in August before heading to Saskatoon for the championship tournament.
“It’s all about building and trying to progress for championship weekend,” said Muldrow, who set a CEBL record with eight blocks in the game last week. “It’s a big weekend where you have to win games back-to-back so we have to get prepared for that.”
The River Lions led 33-20 after one quarter, 49-45 at the half and trailed 68-66 after three quarters.
Guillaume Payen-Boucard knocked down a clutch jump shot as time expired to tie the score at 92-92 and send the game into overtime.
STATS PACK
Stingers 106 River Lions 98 OT
BPSN Star of the game: Edmonton’s Xavier Moon with 23 points and six rebounds.
For the Niagara River Lions: Nem Mitrovic 26; Dorian Pinson 20; Guillaume Payen-Boucard 17; Sam Muldrow 11.
For the Edmonton Stingers: Moon 23; Akeem Ellis 22; Jordan Baker 14.
Game stats: Field goal percentage: Niagara 45.2, Edmonton 44.6; Free throws: Niagara 11-16, Edmonton 11-16; Rebounds: Niagara 42, Edmonton 57. Turnovers: Niagara 17, Edmonton 18.
Up next: The River Lions are in Guelph (4-11) Saturday and home to the Knighthawks Thursday, Aug. 1 for their final home game. It is fan appreciation night.
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