The Niagara River Lions are once again kings of the Canadian Elite Basketball League jungle.
The River Lions, who finished first in the five-team Eastern Conference with a pedestrian 14-10 record, defeated the Calgary Surge 79-73 on Sunday at Canada Life Centre in Winnipeg to win back-to-back titles.
The River Lions edged the Vancouver Bandits 97-95 in last year’s championship final.
Finals MVP Khalil Ahmad led the River Lions with 16 points and nine rebounds, while Nathan Cayo had 14 points and six rebounds. Ahmed Hill chipped in with 13 points and six rebounds.
Sean Miller-Moore scored 19 points for the Surge, who had their seven-game win streak halted. Jameer Nelson Junior, Evan Gilyard and Khyri Thomas all scored 13 points for Calgary.
“It feels incredible. It really does,” said River Lions head coach Victor Raso. “It’s as special of a moment as I’ve ever had as a coach. This one, for these guys, it just cemented them. I’m really happy for them.”
“And he’s (Ahmad) the greatest player to ever play in this league and he’s just a phenomenal person, so he won’t say all the things that I say, but that’s the truth,” Raso said.
Captain Kimbal Mackenzie echoed his coach’s sentiment.
“(It’s) getting a little bit ridiculous at this point, quite frankly,” Mackenzie said. “When he (Ahmad) hit that shot against Scarborough (in the 93-91 East final victory), I was like, ‘How many times is this guy gonna do this?’ He just has a knack for when those moments get big, just playing off his instincts.”
Miller-Moore, the league’s all-time leading Canadian scorer, came up just short at his third Championship Weekend.
“Every loss is a heartbreak. Even when we lose in the regular season, it’s a heartbreak. So, of course, this was the last game and the last time I’m gonna be with this particular group, so it hurt more, but we were a good team all season, and we just came up short today,” Miller-Moore said.
For Niagara, by Raso’s own admission, this season — the longest in CEBL history, with 24 games per team — was more difficult than last, as a roster featuring multiple returning players struggled at times to find motivation during the summer-long grind.
Around midseason, however, the River Lions ripped off a seven-game winning streak to clinch first place in the Eastern Conference. And the team found its motivation.
“It took a while for this team to jell and find its rhythm. We have Ahmed Hill coming off the bench. He’s the leading scorer in CEBL history. That’s what bothers me when people talk about us this year the way they did,” Raso said. “This was a really, really good basketball team, and when it mattered, we were awesome.”
Niagara led 42-36 at halftime and took a 63-51 lead into the final quarter. When the clocks stopped for Target Score Time, a River Lions lead that was once 16 had been cut to three points at 70-67.
BASELINES: The River Lions join the 2020-2021 Edmonton Stingers as the only teams to win back-to-back titles. They are also the only franchises in league history to claim multiple crowns. The parents of Chad Posthumus — a CEBL lifer and Winnipeg native who died in November at age 33 — were on hand to present the championship trophy.
