River Lions clinch berth in final four
Seven players scored in double digits helping the Niagara River Lions defeat the Fraser Valley Bandits 104-94 in Canadian Elite Basketball League action Thursday night in Abbotsford, B.C.
Niagara improved to a league-leading 11-3 with its second win a row and clinched a berth in the spring-summer professional league's inaugural championship final four.
The River Lions, who were visiting the league's western-most franchise for the first time this season, rebounded from a 65-64 halftime deficit and outscored their hosts 40-19 over the final 10 minutes.
Guillaume Boucard led Niagara with a double-double. The team's player of the month for June put up a game-high 25 points while coming down with 10 rebounds, tops for the night.
Fellow starters Sam Muldrow scored 16 points, and Trae Bell-Haynes and Nem Mitrovic 11 each as the River Lions remained undefeated against the Bandits improving to 2-0. Yohanny Dalembert, Alex Johnson and Ryan Anderson added 14, 13 and 10 points, respectively, from the bench.
Niagara won the battle of the boards outrebounding Fraser Valley 42-31. Next action for the River Lions is a 7 p.m. tipoff with the Bandits Saturday, July 20, at Meridian Centre in St. Catharines.
Championship Weekend, which is being billed by the league as the "final chapter" in the story of its first season, takes place Aug. 22-25 in Saskatoon.
The host Saskatchewan Rattlers will be joined by the three teams with the best won-loss records in a one-and-out tournament. A semifinal doubleheader Saturday, Aug. 24, will be followed by the championship game a day later. All action takes place at the 15,100-capacity SaskTel Centre.