River Lions get stiff test in exhibition

The Niagara River Lions’ training camp players had no interest in playing the Washington Generals to the River Lions’ Harlem Globetrotters Friday in an afternoon scrimmage at A.N. Myer Secondary School Secondary School in Niagara Falls.

Bolstered by two pros from Toronto, the training camp players, which included Godsman Kwakwah, Kassius Small-Martin, Jordan Tchuente and Isaiah Bujdoso from Brock University, Antoine Vernon St. FX and Jordan Lyons from Simon Fraser, gave the River Lions all they could handle in front of a noisy gym. The training camp players led by double digits in the second half before the River Lions roared back to record an 81-55 Elam-ending victory.

“I thought that was awesome because we needed a game like that before the first game of the year,” Niagara head coach/co-GM Victor Raso said. “Those Brock guys have been in our camp all week and they practice together all year. They are a good group of basketball players, they are older — a lot of them are 24 or 25 — and they were good.”

They gave the River Lions and Raso everything they could have asked for.

“They were crisp offensively and they knew exactly what we were doing because we had been in practice with them,” he said. “They made life difficult for our guys and we learned the mentality we need to play with when things aren’t going well. On the second day of camp, I talked to the guys about how good we are on our worst day.”

The River Lions were 1-11 from outside the arc and 1-6 from the free-throw line in the first half Friday.

“Experiencing that now before going to Saskatchewan is huge for the guys,” Raso said. “That was not an exhibition game.”

The six Canadian university players were fighting for the last roster spot on the team and they all gave the coaching staff something to think about. When training camp concludes Monday, the team will fly to Saskatchewan Tuesday and open the Canadian Elite Basketball League season Wednesday.

Looking impressive for Niagara in the game Friday was Khalil Ahmad, a 6-foot-4 shooting guard from Corona, Calif. He led the River Lions in scoring and finished the game with a pair of free throws. He played this past season with Horsens IC of the Basketligaen in Denmark. With Horsens IC, the 25-year-old averaged an impressive 20.8 points, 4.5 assists and 5.3 rebounds per game in 18 games played. It is his second season playing professionally.

As is the case with several of the River Lions, connections brought Ahmad to Niagara.

River Lions co-general manager and head of basketball operations Antwi Atuahene went to Arizona State and Ahmad’s head coach in college coached at Arizona State when Atuahene was there.

“We had always talked about me coming and it piqued my interest then the situation just came about and I was like “I am with you. Let’s get some baskets and whatnot.’ ”

Ahmad has been with the team for a week and he is loving the experience.

“It feels like home already and I like it a lot.”

He enjoys the intensity of the team’s training.

“We like to compete and we look to defend and we are just trying to find ourselves. We got to do that with work and adversity.”

Friday’s game provided a liberal dose of that adversity.

“It was our first real game in front of people and like coach says, ‘It is how good you are on your worst day.’ You are not always going to score 1,000 points so we have to get stops and go through adversity together.”

Playing in a high school gym sparked a few memories for Ahmad.

“A little bit but this high school is a lot smaller than the one I went to size-wise as least. It was a small gym but a good crowd and it was nice.”

Ahmad has big goals for the season.

“I am hoping we can win as many games as possible and get to that championship weekend. At the end of the day, winning is all that matters.”

In the process, he wants to improve as a player.

“I am trying to develop every aspect of my game, defence, rebounding and offence. I try to be more of a passer, run the offence and get guys involved.”

He can’t wait for the season to start.

“Every game is circled on my calendar in yellow and I am excited to get out there.”

Ahmad played with a Canadian in college and has Canadian friends but this is his first time visiting Canada.

“I like it. Especially coming from Cali (California), I like it more than Europe because is feels more homey,” he said. “Everyone speaks English well and you have McDonald’s, Subway and all the good stuff.”

He is looking forward to trying poutine.