River Lions drop opener
A rough final quarter relegated the Niagara River Lions to an 84-69 loss to the Montréal Alliance in the team’s Canadian Elite Basketball League opener Friday night at the Verdun Auditorium.
The River Lions led 15-12 after one quarter, trailed 33-30 at the half and led 57-54 after three quarters before getting out-scored 30-17 in the final quarter.
“It was a tough environment to play there and Montreal played real hard,” River Lions head coach/GM Victor Raso said. “We played well defensively for three quarters but offensively it was still a struggle. The pace was picked up and when the bullets are flying the first time, you learn a lot about yourself offensively.”
Niagara played fast on offence.
“We were missing things at the rim and eventually it kind of caught up to us defensively,” he said. “We were defending and rebounding really well but ultimately if you are struggling to find success at the offensive end, the dam is going to break a bit and it did.”
The River Lions were out-rebounded 47-43 and lost the turnover battle 19-9.
“That is a 10-turnover differential and they took 17 more shots that us over the course of the game. If you have that type of shot differential it is hard to win a basketball game,” he said. “We have to clean that up. We can’t turn the ball over and we can’t give up so many offensive rebounds.”
Niagara surrendered 13 offensive rebounds in the game, including six or seven in the third quarter.
Raso is far from discouraged.
“I am still really excited about this team and my thoughts on the group have not changed at all. This is a very good basketball team and it is just going to take a little bit of time to figure it out.”
Montreal was a tough place to start.
“Playing in Montreal with 4,500 and a bunch of guys who are from Montreal that is a tough place to play,” Raso said. “And the stretch is not getting any easier for us going to Calgary and Edmonton. We will get there.”
Top performers for Niagara were: British import Patrick Whelan with 13 points on the strength of 4-7 shooting from beyond the arc; Lloyd Pandi with 12 points, six rebounds and three assists; Edward Ekiyor with nine points and six rebounds; Jahvon Henry-Blair with eight points, four rebounds and three assists; Antonio Davis Jr. with seven points and four rebounds; and, T.L. Lall with seven points and six rebounds.
Leading scorers for Montreal were Blake Francis with 30 points; Ahmed Hill with 17 points and Nathan Cayo with 10 points.
Next up is a Tuesday game against the Calgary Surge. The Surge opened its season Saturday with a 74-70 victory over the Edmonton Stingers. The River Lions will then play at Edmonton Wednesday before opening at home Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at the Meridian Centre against the Saskatchewan Rattlers.
Raso feels it is an advantage to open the season with three games on the road.
“Obviously everybody wants to win every game, but the most important thing is to build for the end. As long as you takes the losses seriously and learn from them — which I think this group has — then it is fine. We have to become a seasoned team pretty quickly because of the environments we’re going into and the environment that we were already in.”
Niagara has six home games in June coming up.
“We will be better for those home games because of going through this.”
Niagara will have to do a better job of protecting its home court this season. The River Lions have been good through most of their history but last season they were only 5-5 at the Meridian Centre.
“Last year was a bit of an anomaly. I think we were too distracted,” Raso said.
Season tickets, voucher packs, group tickets, and single game tickets are available now. Visit www.riverlions.ca/tickets for more information.
