Game Day Writeup: Semi-Final Saturday

And just like that, Championship Weekend is upon us.

After spending almost a month and a half without seeing each other, the River Lions will play their second consecutive game against the Hamilton Honey Badgers.

The River Lions won the season series 3-1 and their last matchup 108-94 at the FirstOntario Centre in Hamilton.

The “Battle of Ontario” reaches its final meeting tonight, and since their last meeting a giant target has appeared on the River Lions’ backs.

Thursday night the River Lions dominated CEBL awards night, seeing their players win Defensive Player of the Year (Sam Muldrow), Canadian Player of the Year (Guillaume Boucard), Coach of the Year (Victor Raso) and placed three players on the CEBL All-Star teams (Muldrow and Boucard on the first team and Trae Bell-Haynes made the second team).

The River Lions have had an emotional month, with the #1 seed looking lost to the Edmonton Stingers until back-to-back Stingers’ losses opened a gap for Niagara to take first. Now, after collecting individual silverware they look to punch their ticket to the final.

“After the Edmonton loss we had to take care of some stuff,” said head coach Victor Raso. “It looked like they were going to run away with the first seed, so we had to take care of stuff in house… If you’re the one seed, you’re playing Hamilton in back-to-back games and Hamilton is probably the most talented team in the league, and if you’re second you have to play Saskatchewan (the hosts).”

The River Lions finished the season 15-5 with the league’s number one offense and the most balanced attack in the CEBL. Seven players averaged double figures in scoring and Raso echoed how big of a luxury it is to have that:

“It’s big to be able to give the ball up (to your teammates) and know you’re going to get it back, to have that is a big testament to our guys and a great aspect of our offense.”

On the other side of things, the Honey Badgers come into this one much quieter. After starting the season 7-3 on the better half of the standings, they lost six of their next seven and only secured a playoff spot August 3 with an 8-9 record.

The Honey Badgers saw guard Ricky Tarrant Jr. receive a CEBL first team All-Star nod Thursday night, and he has been spectacular all season. He finished as a CEBL Player of the Year candidate averaging 19.1 points, 4.6 assists and 1.6 steals a game while drawing a staggering 4.8 fouls per game.

The Honey Badgers also employ the electric scoring of Demetrius Denzel-Dyson. Denzel-Dyson put up 18.4 points, 6.0 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game this season. The Honey Badgers faithful have every right to feel like he was snubbed from CEBL recognition on Thursday.

Together Denzel-Dyson and Tarrant Jr. amass 40% of the Honey Badgers possessions. If the River Lions can keep those two in check, they have a great shot to get to the final.

Tip-off is at 3:30 PM.

By Nicolas Bueno