River Lions romp in home opener
The Niagara River Lions sent 3,333 fans home happy Thursday night with a 103-60 romp over the visiting Hamilton Honey Badgers in the team’s Canadian Elite Basketball League home opener at the Meridian Centre.
The game was a far cry from last Friday’s 74-67 season-opening loss in Brampton.
“In our league, we have such a short training camp and no pre-season and sometimes the early games go awry because you don’t know much about yourself,” River Lions head coach/GM Victor Raso said. “Our guys answered the call. I was pretty hard on them about certain things and I took a lot of ownership to give them clarity on the offensive end and this is the team I knew we were and I thought we could always be.”
Thursday’s performance provided the River Lions with both validation and confidence.
“We actually are good, we practice really hard and can be a very good basketball team. It is good to have nights like this,” he said.
If Thursday is any indication, this year’s version of the River Lions is a contender for the league crown.
“We have a really strong athletic group who play hard on defence so we win the rebounds by 20, we force them to go to their weaknesses and when we do that we can kind of take the life out of people,” Raso said. “And it’s great the way Amari (Moore) can go in the full court and Aaryn Rai can create.”
But Raso is far from satisfied.
“We are a work in progress and we have only been together for two weeks.”
He was thrilled with the return to the Meridian Centre.
“It never grows old. I walked in here tonight and it was ‘We’re back.’ This place is so awesome and it give us such a boost here.”
Elijah Lufile was playing his first game as a River Lion and he enjoyed the experience.
“It is exactly what I expected. The first time I played here was when I was with Calgary and the atmosphere is wild. I was excited about it because I had seen it on the other side.”
Niagara was 8-2 on its home court last season and Raso knows the importance of protecting one’s home court.
“Typically we have been pretty good at home. Our league is so tough and it is so hard to win on the road that you have to make sure you take care of things at home.”
RIVER LIONS 103 HONEY BADGERS 60
BPSN Player of the Game: Niagara’s Omari Moore with 18 points, seven rebounds, eight assists, four blocked and a +39 plus/minus rating.
For the Niagara River Lions: Moore 18; Aaryn Rai 18; Nathan Cayo 17; Antonio Davis Jr. 16.
For the Brantford Honey Badgers: Javonte Cooke 18; David Walker 10; Shamiel Stevenson 10.
Game stats: Field goal percentage: Niagara 58, Brampton 31. Free throws: Niagara 16-23, Brampton 16-24. Rebounds: Niagara 47, Brampton 27. Turnovers: Niagara 12 , Brampton 11.
Up next: Niagara is at the Scarborough Shooting Stars Saturday.
