Niagara River Lions clobber Edmonton Stingers 97-69 in rubber match

The Niagara River Lions cooled off the red-hot Edmonton Stingers offence in a 97-69 beat down at the Meridian Centre on Wednesday night. The victory gives the River Lions the season series over the Stingers 2-1 and improves the team’s record to 9-4. 

The back-to-back champion Stingers drop to 7-6 on the season and have their two-game winning streak snapped. Edmonton now falls to 7-3 all-time against Niagara, including the playoffs.

Jaylen Babb-Harrison led all scorers with 24 points on 6-9 shooting from the field and 5-8 from three in the Niagara win. Elijah Mitrou-Long had a monster performance off the bench as well with 23 points, 4 assists, 4 rebounds and 3 steals for the River Lions on 9-15 shooting. Tidjan Keita also had a big game with 10 points on 5-7 shooting, 7 rebounds and 3 steals. 

Entering the game as the league’s leading scorer, Khalil Ahmad struggled from the field at 5-15 but was a perfect 10-10 from the free throw line and netted 20 points, including the game-winning free throws. The game-winning free throws built upon Ahmad’s single-season Canadian Elite Basketball League record for Elam enders with all nine of the River Lions’ finishes this season. 

Former Alberta Golden Bear Jordan Baker had a team-high 18 points for the Stingers in a set-back game for their offence. Baker added 9 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals to his stat line while Aher Uguak also contributed 12 points off the bench. After back-to-back games with 25 points or more, Brody Clarke had a bad night for Edmonton with just 3 points on 0-4 shooting and 3-5 from the free throw line along with 2 turnovers,

After back-to-back games with over 100 points, the Stingers’ offence regressed significantly on Wednesday night. They shot just 38 per cent from the floor, 18 per cent from the three and 62 per cent from the free throw line. The Stingers also gave away 22 turnovers, including 14 Niagara steals. 

Niagara opened the game on a 6-1 run to force Edmonton coach Jermaine Small into an early timeout. Jaylen Babb-Harrison had an impressive first quarter for the River Lions, hitting a pair of threes and getting to the free throw line. The Stingers struggled with turnovers throughout the quarter, giving away possession 8 times while shooting 35 per cent from the field and going 0-4 from three. 

The River Lions extended their lead to 20 points early in the second quarter but the Stingers were able to put together some stops and cut the lead to 48-37 heading into the locker room. Elijah Mitrou-Long led all scorers at half with 12 points while Babb-Harrison scored 10 points. Mathieu Kamba led the way for Edmonton with 9 points at half. 

In the third quarter, Edmonton cut the lead to single digits multiple times but the River Lions were able to storm back. Babb-Harrison had 10 third quarter points off of two threes, a floater and a pair of free throws. Crafty finishes from Mitrou-Long and Munis Tutu extended the Niagara lead before a pair of Jordan Baker free throws closed out the quarter with Edmonton trailing 68-54. 

Jahmal Jones hit a difficult shot to open the fourth quarter and cut the lead to 12, but the River Lions dominated the rest of the quarter. The trio of Babb-Harrison, Mitrou-Long, and Khalil Ahmad was able to close out the game for Niagara. Ahmad hit a pair of free throws before completing an and-one that led to a technical foul and ejection of Marlon Johnson Jr. Babb-Harrison knocked down a three, Mitrou-Long hit a mid-range jumper and Ahmad completed another and-one to give Niagara an 88-63 lead heading into Elam time with a target score of 97. 

Tidjan Keita opened the final stretch with a steal and a slam and Ahmad also scored to extend the lead to 92-63. Despite six straight points from Aher Uguak, the River Lions closed the game with a Mitrou-Long three and a pair of Ahmad free throws. 

Edmonton hosts the Hamilton Honey Badgers on Sunday at 2 p.m. MT while the River Lions will remain home to face the Guelph Nighthawks Saturday at 7:00 p.m. ET. 

The games will stream on CEBL+ live internationally and in Canada at cbcsports.ca, the CBC Sports app for iOS

and Android devices and the free CBC Gem streaming service. Games are also available on the CEBL’s official app, CEBL Mobile, available on iOS and Android devices.

Edmonton Stingers season tickets are available at https://www.thestingers.ca/season-tickets17e760ad  while Niagara River Lions season tickets are available at https://www.riverlions.ca/tickets. 

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