Dalembert leads R-Lions past Rattlers
Growing up in Haiti, Niagara River Lions forward Yohanny Dalembert never touched a basketball.
All that changed at age 15 when a 7.0 earthquake hit his home country and killed more than 100,000 people. Dalembert went to live with his older brother Samuel Dalembert, who was playing with the Philadelphia 76ers in the NBA.
Media reports suggest that when Yohanny attended Samuel’s games and saw how hard he played and how much he loved the sport, it inspired him to pick up a basketball.
“The truth is I didn’t have a choice,” said Yohanny, moments after scoring 14 points and grabbing 12 rebounds Friday night to help Niagara record a 97-89 victory over the visiting Saskatchewan Rattlers in Canadian Elite Basketball League play. “When I first got in the country, I went to a couple games and wasn’t impressed because I was a soccer fan.
“I shook Kobe Bryant’s hand when he came to visit our high school and I wasn’t fazed because I would rather have met Ronaldo.”
The 6-foot-8, 240-pounder didn’t realize how big basketball was in the United States until he started playing it. But he didn’t immediately gravitate to the sport.
“I tried out for track, soccer, volleyball and football and then my brother told me that he had got the word from the coach that I wouldn’t show up for basketball practice,” he said. “I told him that I thought it was nice to try out for everybody and he told me ‘You’re playing basketball.’ ”
He was anything but an instant sensation.
“I was picking up the ball from half court and running with it and obviously it took about a year and a half to get up to speed and understand it,” the Montreal resident said. “After a few years, the basketball IQ started kicking in and I started to understand the game and playing the game within the game.”
He was a quick enough study to garner a scholarship at James Madison, where he averaged 8.1 points and 5.3 rebounds over four years.
“It was a great experience,” he said. “I had great coaches and very good mentors for my college years.”
He is now two years into his pro career with previous stops with the London Lightning and the Sudbury Five in the National Basketball League of Canada.
“In college, I was more of a scorer than a facilitator, but when I got to pro I was playing with guys like Royce White and Julian Boyd who could score the ball at a higher rate that I could coming out of college because they had been doing it for four or five years,” he said. “I had to take a backseat, get strong, get more physical and learn the game. Two years later, I get to apply it.”
Coming into Friday’s game, Dalembert was averaging 9.3 points and 5.0 rebounds and 18 minutes of playing time with the River Lions. He led the team with a jaw-dropping field goal percentage of 74.2 per cent, no doubt helped by the fact that almost all of his shots are within four feet of the basket. He gets plenty of dunks, put backs and easy layups in the paint.
“I am great at it,” he said. “I think I am one of the best at it and this point I would really like to expand my game and me and coach Victor (Raso) have been working on it a lot.
“I think it is coming soon.”
Older brother Samuel remains an important part of his life and basketball career.
“I am always calling him when I am frustrated and he calms me down because he has been there.”
Yohanny is enjoying his time in the CEBL.
“I think it is a great league and with it being FIBA-regulated it has a lot of advantages and it opens up the scouting for a lot of players.”
Niagara came into Friday’s game with at 9-3 record, including a perfect 6-0 on home court. The River Lions trailed 18-17 after the first quarter, but then built quarter leads of 44-35 and 70-61. Niagara then grew a nice 18-point lead but almost gave it away at the end with some poor play in garbage time.
Fourth-place Saskatchewan came into the game with a 6-5 record but that included a 4-2 road resume.
STATS PACK
River Lions 97 Rattlers 89
BPSN Star of the Game: Niagara’s Yohanny Dalembert with 14 points, 12 rebounds and a +19 plus/minus rating.
For the Niagara River Lions: Trae Bell-Haynes 21; Dalembert and Ryan Anderson 14; Guillaume Payen-Boucard 13.
For the Saskatchewan Rattlers: Tavion Dawson 23; Alex Campbell 13; Lawrence Moore 12.
Game stats: Shooting percentage: Niagara 48.5, Saskatchewan 43.2. Rebounds: Niagara 45, Saskatchewan 42. Free throws: Niagara 19-30, Saskatchewan 11-15. Turnovers: Niagara 20, Saskatchewan 16.
Up next: Niagara is at Fraser Valley next Thursday.
Written by Bernie Puchalski