Semi-Final Recap: August 24th

Why do all good things have to come to an end?

In a disappointing turn of events, the Niagara River Lions were eliminated from the CEBL Playoffs after losing 104-103 to the Hamilton Honey Badgers at the SaskTel Centre in Saskatoon.

Down one point with 13 seconds left, the River Lions had a couple chances to win it. An airball heave by Guillaume Boucard with seven seconds left made its way into the hands of Yohanny Dalembert, who missed a bank-shot put-back with two seconds on the clock. The Honey Badgers’ Xavier Rathan-Mayes caught the defensive rebound, hurled the ball in the air, and time ran out on the River Lions’ season.

The Honey Badgers were on fire offensively, shooting 46% from the field and 50% from the three-point line. However, they struggled from the free throw line, going 12 of 19 from the charity stripe.

They were led by the explosive scoring trio of Demetrius Denzel-Dyson, Ricky Tarrant Jr. and Rathan-Mayes. Denzel-Dyson had 21 points on 66% shooting from the field and 71% from the three -point line (5/7), Tarrant Jr. had 22 points on 15 shots and Rathan-Mayes, who holds the record for most points scored in a CEBL game, chipped in 28 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds.

The River Lions struggled offensively, shooting 42% from the field and 32% from behind the arc. Their saving grace in this one came from their aggressive approach: they went to the line 40 times, converting on 33 of them, good for 82%.

The River Lions main contributors were Ryan Anderson and Guillaume Boucard. Anderson led the team in scoring with 26 points and 12 of 12 from the free throw line, while Boucard scored 21 and grabbed 9 rebounds.

After hitting his third three pointer of the game early in the second quarter, sharpshooter Nem Mitrovic missed the rest of his long-range attempts for the remainder of the game.

Other than shooting percentage, the River Lions won every major statistical category minus turnovers (14-10) and points off turnovers (23-12).

The game started out slow for Niagara, with Dorian Pinson being called for a travel and Sam Muldrow picking up two fouls in the first two minutes. Muldrow would foul out after being whistled for a technical foul with 9:44 left in the fourth quarter. He played just 12:56 on the night.

The first quarter ended 34-34 with both teams hitting shots early. Mitrovic and Dorian Pinson each hit two threes and Ryan Anderson went seven for seven from the line in the quarter, while the Honey Badgers hit six three pointers of their own.

The second quarter saw the River Lions show some grit, being down seven and managing to narrow the gap down to just one. They trailed 55-54 at halftime.

Down 77-72 after a Tarrant Jr. lay-up with 1:05 left in the third, Ryan Anderson hit back-to-back threes and Alex Johnson hit a third one at the buzzer to lead 81-80 at the end of the third quarter.

The River Lions’ starters were poor in this one, with no player maintaining a positive +/-on the game. The bench was better, with no reserve having a negative +/-.

By Nicolas Bueno