Game Day Writeup: June 28th

After three games in the confines of the Meridian Centre, the River Lions are on the road again.

They get set to play their third game of the season against the Edmonton Stingers, splitting their last two meetings. Their first game against Edmonton was their second game of the season, which Niagara lost in overtime, 118-105.

The next time they played Edmonton was six days later in their home opener, winning in a landslide. The week off made a huge difference in the River Lions 108-66 victory.

Since the last game against the Stingers, the River Lions have gone 7-1, including a perfect record at home and their lone loss coming at the hands of the 2nd place Hamilton Honey Badgers.

The Stingers, on the other hand, have gone 4-2 in their last six games, holding their opponents under 100 points in all six games, and under 90 points in four of the last six. They currently sit at 5-4 and 3rd in the CEBL standings.

The Stingers are tied for the 2 nd -best home record in the league (4-1), but have also played the least amount of games out of any team so far.

The two games against Edmonton this year have shown an early trend for the River Lions: Coach Victor Raso and his coaching staff’s ability to make effective game-to-game adjustments.

In the first game, the Stingers won the rebounding battle in a big way (50-29) and took much better care of the ball than the River Lions (19 Niagara turnovers compared to 14 for Edmonton). The Stingers also shot 13 more free throws than the River Lions, going 30/38 compared to the River Lions’ 17/25.

Their game on May 16 was a completely different story. Not only was the free throw total much closer (15/20 for Niagara and 13/24 for Edmonton), but the rebounding battle was not nearly as lopsided (49- 45 in favour of Edmonton). The biggest change was the turnover battle, as the Stingers coughed it up 29 times compared to the River Lions’ 12.

The Stingers will be expecting to see the return of point guard Xavier Moon, who averages 16 points, four rebounds and two assists per game in only three appearances this season. Moon has missed the past six games for the Stingers, and in two games against the River Lions averaged 31 points, five rebounds and 3.5 assists. His potential return is something Raso and his staff must be ready for.

Overall the Stingers have been led by the steady performance of Travis Daniels. The 6’8” Canadian averages 16.8 points (a team high), 5.8 rebounds on 68% shooting (also a team high), 43% from behind the three-point line and 72% from the charity stripe in only 22 minutes per game.

Their frontcourt strength doesn’t stop there, with 6’7” Jordan Baker also causing serious damage at the forward position. Baker leads the team in rebounds per game (8.7) and assists per game (3.8) while also chipping in 14.4 points per contest on 49% shooting from the field.

Tip-off is at 7 PM MT/ 9PM ET.

By Nicolas Bueno