River Lions clinch Eastern Conference title
The Niagara River Lions clinched first place in the Canadian Elite Basketball League’s Eastern Conference Wednesday night with an 80-71 victory over the visiting Brampton Honey Badgers.
Niagara improved to 13-5 with the win and pushed its winning streak to six games. The River Lions will host the winner of the quarter-final game in the semifinals.
“It is excellent to clinch first place but it doesn’t feel like much,” River Lions GM/head coach Victor Raso said. “We kind of talked about it in the locker room after the game and there weren’t celebrations like there were last year. There was a very fun-loving feel in the room, it’s important and it’s good to get it done with three games left but there is more work to be done.”
If a Western Conference team was hosting the CEBL Final Four, the win would have given the River Lions a bye there. But because the Montreal Alliance is hosting, Niagara needs a semifinal win to punch its ticket to the Final Four.
It is the second straight Eastern Conference title for the River Lions in the two years since they divided the league in two conferences. Niagara finished first overall once and second overall a couple of times before that.
Raso’s strategy for the rest of the regular season is pedal to the metal with a few exceptions. TJ Lall will be given some time off to heal up a series of nagging injuries (toe, knee etc.) and Jahvon Blair will miss Niagara’s next game because his wife is expecting a child. Everyone else will be pushing to finish hard.
“We have time to rest guys with nagging injuries but otherwise we are going. We are preparing to win that game in Ottawa,” he said. “We need to keep learning about ourselves and we need to keep learning how to win in different places with different lineups.”
Khalil Ahmad missed Wednesday’s game because of a sore back but would have played if it was a playoff game. He will return to action Saturday in Ottawa.
“We needed to give him a week in between to get him ready to go.”
Stepping up to fill the void for Niagara against Brampton (6-11) was Aaryn Rai.
“He was absolutely excellent. Without Khalil tonight, he really stepped up. He didn’t have a good first couple minutes and I didn’t think he was aggressive enough and then he started to be extra aggressive,” Raso said. “He had 28 points, 12 rebounds, four assists and four blocked shots. He just dominated the stat sheet.”
Rai has been all and more than what Raso expected when he signed him up for his first season in Niagara.
“The guy is phenomenal. Even after the game, people were saying ‘I don’t know how he does it’ but put aside the eye test,” he said. “He doesn’t look like your typical basketball player. He doesn’t look overly athletic but he is strong as a ox, he is even-keeled and he understands how to play the game. He is very skilled and the more you watch Aaryn, the more you realize how darned good he is at basketball.”
STATS PACK
River Lions 80 Honey Badgers 71
BPSN Player of the Game: Niagara Aaryn Rai with 28 points.
For the Niagara River Lions: Rai 28; Jahvon Blair 20; Kimbal Mackenzie and Nathan Cayo 8.
For the Brampton Honey Badgers: Zane Waterman 24; David Walker 14; Shamiel Stevenson 13
Game stats: Field goal percentage: Niagara 38, Brampton 37. Free throws: Niagara 17-23, Brampton 14-19. Rebounds: Niagara 45, Brampton 46. Turnovers: Niagara 14, Brampton 14.
Up next: Niagara is at the Ottawa BlackJacks Saturday.
Visit www.riverlions.ca/tickets for more information.
