Game Day Writeup: August 8th

The River Lions are back on the road tonight, closing out their season series with the Fraser Valley Bandits.

The River Lions (13-5, second place) are in Abbotsford for the final time this season facing the 4-14 Fraser Valley Bandits who sit in last place in the CEBL.

This is the last time the River Lions will have to deal with the major time difference as well.

“Everyone in this league has to make trips like this,” said head coach Victor Raso. “We were fine the first time we went there; we will be fine again. The travel works in our advantage a little bit because we get an extra three hours of sleep tonight when we land. Opposed to when those teams come this way, they lose two hours… no excuses on our end.”

In what is slowly becoming familiar territory, the River Lions are bouncing back from a loss once again. They fell 101-90 against the Guelph Nighthawks on August 1 at home, which gave them an 8-2 record at home on the season. The River Lions have not lost consecutive games all year.

“We didn’t play our best basketball against Guelph, we haven’t really been playing our best basketball as of late,” Raso said. “We need to try to turn it around and tinker with stuff in practice. (We need to) re-ignite our identity a little bit.”

In their last game against Guelph, the River Lions’ offense was a liability: they shot 39% from the field and turned the ball over 20 times. The Nighthawks scored 22 points off those 20 turnovers and got to the line 35 times compared to the River Lions’ 22.

The Nighthawks also outscored the River Lions 31-19 in the fast break, a usual strong spot for Niagara.

“Fraser Valley won’t be as desperate (as Guelph was last week) which scares me even more,” Raso said. “Those guys are just at home playing basketball (instead of competing for a playoff spot), for us, we are trying to get back to playing good basketball. You never know with teams like that. They can come out loose, and if you allow them to be comfortable, they can shoot the ball really well and play with freedom.”

The Bandits are in a tough position. After a 4-1 stretch from June 27 to July 18, they’ve lost four straight and are officially eliminated from the playoffs.

The last time they played, they were on a back-to-back against the Edmonton Stingers (lost 108-104) and the Saskatchewan Rattlers (lost 83-73).

Point guard Marek Klassen was back in the lineup for both games after missing their last matchup with the River Lions on July 20, so it is expected he will be in the starting lineup tonight as well.

The Bandits led furious comebacks in their last two games that ultimately fell short. Raso’s expectations of a loose team playing at home can be trouble for Niagara if their focus isn’t up to par.

Tip-off is at 10 PM.

By Nicolas Bueno