River Lions announce schedule as roster takes shape
There’s nothing like the news of an upcoming Niagara River Lions season to take the gloom off a snowy February day.
The Canadian Elite Basketball League squad will open the season with a three-game road trip starting May 25 against the Saskatchewan Rattlers before making its home debut June 3 at the Meridian Centre against the expansion Montreal Alliance.
“Our front office and basketball operations staff have been busy preparing for the 2022 season with the schedule now in place, we are one step closer,” River Lions president Jeffrey Sotiriou said. “We were fortunate enough to welcome back fans to the Meridian Centre last summer in a safe manner and we look forward to doing the same in June and July.”
The River Lions are coming off a successful third season which saw the team go 10-4 in the regular season and advance to the championship game for the first time. On the developmental front, two of Niagara’s players, Javin DeLaurier and Xavier Sneed, signed 10-day NBA contracts. DeLaurier was the first-ever CEBL player to sign an NBA contract. Almost all of the team’s other players on the 2021 roster are playing overseas in top leagues across Europe and Asia.
Highlights of the 2022 schedule include: 20 regular season games, 10 home and 20 away, played over and 11-week period; four Friday night home games, two on Saturday and Monday and one on Wednesday and Sunday; and, a championship game rematch in Edmonton versus the Stingers May 27.
Season tickets will be available for purchase May 27 and voucher packs, group tickets and single game tickets will be available in the early spring.
Niagara head coach and general manager Victor Raso and head of basketball operations and GM Antwi Atuahene have been working on Niagara’s roster for 2022 while serving on Jermaine Small’s Edmonton Stingers staff as the CEBL champions will compete in Group A of the Basketball Champions League Americas playdowns. The Stingers have a 1-1 record heading into games March 4-6 in Nicaragua. Twelve teams from seven countries are taking part in the event and the BCL Americas champion will earn a spot into the 2023 FIBA Intercontinental Cup.
“We pretty much have signed or have commitments from all of our Canadian returnees and we are planning to add a new Canadian to the mix,” Raso said. “We are just solidifying our imports right now, including an international player.”
Raso is hoping Thomas and Phil Scrubb will be back in the fold.
“Our intentions are to bring them back as long as we can make it work again this summer,” Raso said.
For this season, the CEBL has reduced the number of Canadian roster spots to six from seven replacing it with an import not from the United States.
“Free agency technically opened Tuesday but we have a pretty good idea of who we want to have on our team and we kind of have commitments,” Raso said. “Up to now, Antwi and I have been getting the people we want and now we are in constant communication with the guys. In two or three weeks, we will begin individual film sessions with myself, the assistant coaches and the players just to kind of build a base so we are ready to go when we get to training camp.”
Every CEBL team has the ability to request their players give them their rights until the end of February. No one in the league can talk to the players until March 1.
The River Lions believe they have all their roster spots filled but that is fluid.
“The only for sure thing is that whatever we think today is going to change tomorrow,” Raso said. “Something is going to change but right now we have the group that we want. As things come up, we make changes.”
Training camp opens May 15.
