CEBL's Top Two Face Off in Niagara
The biggest rivals of the inaugural Canadian Elite Basketball League season – the Niagara River Lions and the Edmonton Stingers – met in a battle for dominance in the Meridian Centre at the weekend.
The two teams have stood above all others this summers and have been fighting for supremacy as the regular season starts to come to a close. One would be getting the chance to assert their dominance this weekend as the two met up on Niagara’s home court.
The River Lions came out of the blocks firing on Friday, leading by fifteen points in the first quarter. Niagara’s high-percentage play paying dividends early on, their offence led by Nikola Mitrovic who finished with 26 points. Guillaume Boucard was also impressed for the home team with a final scorng total of 17.
In the second half Edmonton upped their defence, which helped them to take the lead before the River Lions took it back down the stretch. The teams jostled for the lead in the last moments of the game, where the Stingers led by a two, and a final field goal from Boucard sent the game to overtime.
Edmonton opened overtime with nine unanswered points, and the pressure seemingly took its toll on the River Lions, who could not respond in the remaining time. Edmonton picked up their eighth straight win, 105 points to 98, with Xavier Moon leading the scoring with 23 points for the Stingers.
The River Lions had their revenge the next day on the road against the Guelph Nighthawks. They never once falling behind, which Niagara made possible by shutting out their hosts on defence.
Olu Famutimi had a game-high 20 points for Guelph, but that would not be enough to avoid the loss by the eventual scoreline of 96-87. Alex Johnson had 19 points for the River Lions, as did his team mate Dorian Pinson who also grabbed 11 rebounds in the contest.
Meanwhile it was a great weekend for the Saskatchewan Rattlers, who first ended their five-game losing streak with a twelve-point win over Fraser Valley Bandits. Saskatchewan were dominant in the paint and saw a game-high 27 points from Shaquille Keith.
They built on this win days later with a 100-79 win over the Hamilton Honey Badgers, this time with Alex Campbell leading with 19 points for the Rattlers. Sampson Carter had 20 points for Hamilton in their loss.
At the end of an interesting and daramtic weekend Niagara are at the top of the table with one win more than Edmonton. Both have secured their spot in the championship round in August, as does third place Saskatchewan as they will be playing hosts to the title game.
Fourth-place Hamilton also looked poised to make the final four, while both on a 4-12 record, Guelph and Fraser Valley’s potential appearance in the final is looking like more and more of a long shot.
Visit the official CEBL website for more information.
Picture: Larry Wong
