River Lions busted against BlackJacks
The Niagara River Lions three-game Canadian Elite Basketball League winning streak came to an end Saturday in Ottawa with a 90-86 loss to the Ottawa BlackJacks.
Ottawa built quarter leads of 23-15, 46-45 and 64-63 to record the victory and improve to 2-5 on the season. The River Lions fell to 4-3 with the loss.
“We were not ready to compete. The end of a long road trip against a team who was 1-5 and we knew they were going to be a wounded animal who was desperate to win,” River Lions head coach/GM Victor Raso said. “Their staff was looking down the barrel, their players were looking down the barrel and they needed to win that game tonight. We did not have the same level of urgency and then we started searching a little bit and started to get away from the things that we do and have been doing really well because we are trying to get it back. It’s too tough of a league to give the other team the emotional energy advantage and claw your way out but we are going to have to do it.”
Raso applauded his team for getting back to having a chance to win the game but the River Lions’ 21st turnover of the game resulted in the winning basket on a tough shot.
Raso had talked to his team about not taking the game lightly but it obviously didn’t sink in.
“We addressed it and I am kicking myself a little bit for not lighting more of a fire before the game but our guys have been incredibly trustworthy up to this point,” he said. “They have come out, competed, followed the game plan and been the aggressor every game so I trusted them with the situation but this is life. We have only been together for a month and you are going to have bad performances and we have to get better from it. I do not think we will start our future games like that.”
Before the season started, Raso would have gladly taken a 2-1 record on a road trip through Edmonton, Montreal and Ottawa but not now.
“Three games and an eight-game road trip I would have signed up for 2-1, especially with the gyms we had to play in. Montreal and Edmonton are tough places to play and Ottawas is not that tough a place to play. I think we are 9-2 overall in franchise history against Ottawa so in the moment I am quite frustrated we didn’t go 3-0 on this trip.”
Niagara has played five of its first seven games on the road and is 2-0 at home.
“We are 4-3 and I think we have given two of those games away,” Raso said. “I am not concerned where we are as a basketball team but we have to bounce back from this.”
Top performers for the River Lions were: Aaryn Rai with 24 points and 16 rebounds; Javhon Blair with 12 points; TJ Lall with 11 points and eight boards; Omari Moore with 10 points and six rebounds; and, Nathan Cayo with 10 points.
Ottawa was led by Tyrrel Tate with 19 points and Brandon Sampson with 16. Former River Lion Lloyd Pandi netted 14 against his former squad.
The River Lions return home for an 11 a.m. Wednesday home game versus the Scarborough Shooting Stars and will welcome Khalil Ahmad back from his overseas season.
Visit www.riverlions.ca/tickets for more information.
“Going forward injecting Khalil into the lineup, we are very capable of beating anybody in this league and being the best team in this league when our approach is correct, we are following the plan and we are executing,” Raso said.
He loves what Ahmad brings to the court.
“The nice part about Khalil is that he has only has one mode. He doesn’t walk on the floor and try to be the nice guy who wants to figure it out. My experience with Khalil is he has never stepped on the floor and not wanted to kill the other team.”
Ahmad and Moore will get a chance to play together for four games before the latter heads to NBA Summer League with the Raptors. He will then return when that league ends.
