River Lions eke out victory
The Niagara River Lions improved their Eastern Conference-leading record to 7-4 Saturday night with a 94-87 victory over the Saskatchewan Rattlers.
Niagara lead 25-21 after one quarter and trailed 53-50 at the half before leading 70-69 going into the final quarter of the Canadian Elite Basketball League game.
“We didn’t play great and definitely not up to what we are capable of doing but we played well enough to win and we made some plays down the stretch,” River Lions head coach/GM Victor Raso said.
Niagara was playing a team battling the injury bug.
“We have kind of been in that situation before when we played Winnipeg earlier in the year. Some of the main guys got hurt and then their role players played incredibly hard,” he said. “It is one of those tough situations where you are super prepared for their main guys and then all of a sudden it’s not the main guys and you have to wrap your head around how to beat the other guys. It was a bit of a grind but we got it done.”
Niagara will gladly take the win.
“In this league, the wins are so important throughout that you have to win when it’s ugly, when it’s in unpredictable situations and in hostile environments,” Raso said.
The coach is still waiting for his team to come together.
“We had some really good moments but we haven’t been playing great. We have still been rebounding the ball which is nice. Louden (Love) got hurt a couple nights ago but he was quite good last night.”
Leading the way for the River Lions against Saskatchewan were: Khalil Ahmad with 18 points, seven rebounds and nine assists; Love with 14 points and six rebounds; TJ Lall with 13 points, five rebounds and six assists; Jahvon Blair with 12 points; Aaryn Rai with 10 points and five rebounds; Omari Moore with nine points; Elijah Lufile with eight points and five boards; and, Nathan Cayo with eight points.
“Khalil played really well offensively which is a very good sign. He is starting to impact the game the way he can,” Raso said.
Top scorers for the Rattlers were Cody John (23), Emmanuel Bando (16), Bryson Williams (15) and Isaac Simon (14).
Niagara is at Vancouver on Canada Day before returning home to play Calgary next Thursday at 7 p.m.
Visit www.riverlions.ca/tickets for more information.
Raso and his team can’t wait to get home.
“It is kind of setting in now that we have been on two long road trips and eight of our first 12 have been on the road. It is going to be really nice to play a long stretch at home.”
Before sleeping in their own beds, the River Lions will face a stiff challenge in Vancouver.
“Vancouver is a very talented basketball team. They are coming off a loss so it is going to be difficult. They have Nick Ward who is probably the best big guy in the league and three dynamic scoring guards. I think they are 6-1 at home with last (Saturday) night being their first home loss,” he said. “They are a physical, aggressive team and it will take a good performance from us.”
