Ivy Leaguer a great fit with Niagara
The Niagara River Lions’ fans can thank a pair of Aaryn Rai’s current teammates for the arrival of the 25-year-old from Markham as a member of the Canadian Elite Basketball League team.
“He played in the same league as TJ (Lall) and Kimbal (Mackenzie) and I was watching those guys and someone told me he was Canadian,” River Lions head/coach GM Victor Raso said. “I was like ‘OK. He has good numbers.’ Then I watched him and I thought he was pretty good. Then I kept watching and I realized he was really good. This is a really good basketball player and I was lucky enough that I got to him before three or four other teams started recruiting him and he chose us. He has been awesome.”
Raso had perfect timing with his interest in Rai.
“I was thinking about playing in the CEBL in the summer and he told me all that Niagara has to offer and it worked out. It’s a great team, a winning culture, a great group of guys, a great staff that really takes care of us here and he sold me on it. I decided to come by.”
The 6-foot-6 forward has not regretted his choice.
“I think we let a couple of games slip that we probably should have gotten but other that that I have loved pretty much everything: the practices, the games and all that stuff,” he said. “There are no complaints here and I am just hoping to get some more wins.”
In nine games with the River Lions (6-3) this season, Rai is averaging 13.6 points, 5.9 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game.
“He impacts the games in so many ways,” Raso said. “He is scoring the ball well he can rebound like crazy, he is a good defender, he knows our stuff, he will readily come off the bench and he’s excellent. I love him.”
Rai is a selfless player and is willing and able to pitch in any way he can.
“It is whatever we need to get those wins. I have a decreased role sometimes when someone else is needed but on our team we have a bunch of guys who will do what it takes to win.”
He is confident in his team’s abilities.
“I think we can be the best team in the league because we have such talent across the board from one through 10 and 11. We just have to play hard for 40 minutes.”
Prior to joining the River Lions, Rai played for the Cheshire Phoenix in British Basketball League where he averaged 18.5 points, 7.7 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game.
The former team MVP with Hemel Storm in England’s National Basketball League played five years of collegiate ball with Dartmouth in the Ivy League where he averaged 8.6 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.3 assists in 107 games played. In 2021-22, he finished in the top 10 in Ivy League scoring.
Rai graduated from Dartmouth with a neuroscience degree but has no idea where that path might have taken him if he wasn’t playing basketball.
“I couldn’t tell you. It would probably be something else other than basketball. I might go back to it and I haven’t planned anything out. I am just worried about our game against Winnipeg.”
No one jokes about his Ivy League background and impressive-sounding degree.
“Everyone comes from such a unique background,” he said.
Niagara is at Winnipeg Thursday, Saskatchewan Saturday and Vancouver Monday before returning home to play Calgary on Thursday, July 4.
