River Lions get payback over Nighthawks

The Niagara River Lions returned the favour to the Guelph Nighthawks Sunday afternoon in Canadian Elite Basketball League action.

Less than 48 hours after losing 92-81 to the Nighthawks on their home court, Niagara turned the tables with an 89-69 victory on Guelph’s home floor Sunday afternoon.

“The first quarter wasn’t great but we kind of got back to ourselves in the second quarter,” Niagara head coach/GM Victor Raso said. “That was really nice to see because we really are a new team and we lost a bunch of athleticism.”

Raso was referring to the departures of Javin DeLaurier, Xavier Sneed and Tyree White. Sneed is off to the Charlotte Hornets’ summer league team while DeLaurier and White are at a mini camp with the Milwaukee Bucks.

“The guys really had to trust each other a little bit more and it was a really good second quarter and a very good start to the third. And then a really good fourth quarter defensively. I was happy with that,” Raso said.

Niagara trailed 23-17 after one quarter but rallied to lead 40-38 at the half. A 17-1 to start the third quarter put Guelph on its heels and the River Lions headed into the final quarter with a 64-58 lead. Niagara put the game away by outscoring the Nighthawks 25-11 in the final quarter.

The play of Niagara was a big turnaround from Friday night at the Meridian Centre.

“I don’t think our plan was great (Friday) and as a result if you don’t have a great plan and there is not a lot of continuity and familiarity amongst the guys then it is hard for them to get energy,” Raso said. “Losing our three Americans, we lost a lot of energy because there are some great personalities. Bringing in Tommy, Phil and Jalen, they are different humans and I really thought our energy wasn’t in the right spot the other night.”

It was the polar opposite Sunday.

“We were much more organized, much more deliberate with what we were doing and we got good quality shots. We took a huge step tonight,” Raso said.

He is confident his squad is good enough even without the American trio.

“Phil and Tommy (Scrubb) were awesome tonight and everyone was awesome. I think this team is really good and hopefully this group and that group merges together somewhere down the road here.”

Sneed will be back if Niagara can make the league Final Four. DeLaurier and White will be on the same timeline if they make Milwaukee’s summer league team. If not, they will be back within the week.

Top scorers for Niagara Sunday were: Phil Scrubb with 19; Olu Ashaolu with 14; Guillaume Payen-Boucard and Jalen Babb-Harrison with 13; Thomas Scrubb with 12; and, Daniel Mullings with 10.

Ahmed Hill paced Guelph with 24 and Kimbal Mackenzie added 12.

Niagara (7-4) is back in action Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the Meridian Centre when they host the Hamilton Honey Badgers (9-3). The game has major playoff implications as the top two teams in the league advance directly to the league semifinals. Hamilton presently sits in second and Niagara is third.