In the battle between struggling Niagara and Winnipeg, one team was assured of a get-right win. The River Lions made sure it was them. Niagara dispatched of the Sea Bears 93-82 on Friday at the Meridian Centre in St. Catharines, Ont., snapping its two-game skid and padding its lead atop the Eastern Conference. Winnipeg, meanwhile, suffered its fourth consecutive loss. Niagara now sits at 8-5, while Winnipeg falls to 5-9. “I mean, it was the bounceback that we needed,” River Lions head coach Victor Raso said. “I thought we played hard the entirety of the game. We played better basketball than we have been in the past, so that was a big step in the right direction.” The River Lions controlled most of the game, leading by double digits much of the way, until the Sea Bears injected a scare with a fourth-quarter run that cut their deficit to five. It was as close as they would get. Niagara led 83-74 when the clock stopped for Target Score Time, which began explosively. After Jalen Harris hit a two-pointer to start the proceedings, the teams traded three-pointers on four straight possessions with Khalil Ahmad and Ron Curry hitting for Niagara, while Harris hit both for Winnipeg. Shortly after, Ahmad reinforced yet again why he has become known as the Target Score King, splashing home a step-back three-pointer to seal the River Lions victory. “it's all about continuity and putting together that game after game after game after game, so if we can stay continuous, then we'll be alright,” Ahmad said. For Niagara, the long-awaited win came on the back of its defence. The River Lions entered Friday’s action allowing the most points against per game in the league and having given up a combined 193 points in its two losses. But on Friday, they held the Sea Bears to just 34 points in the middle two quarters and forced 19 total turnovers. “We defended really well, especially for the first three quarters up in the game, really up until the points of the game where Jalen Harris started making shots, I thought we were defending quite well,” Raso said. Ahmad led the way for Niagara with 26 points to go with four assists and three rebounds. He made nine of 17 field-goal attempts, and two of his three triples came during Target Score Time. Elijah Lufile came off the bench for a near-double-double of 10 points and nine rebounds, while do-it-all guard Kimbal Mackenzie contributed 11 points, five rebounds and four assists. Ahmed Hill, the CEBL’s all-time leading scorer, had 12 points to move within five of becoming the first player in league history to reach the 1,500-point plateau (including playoffs). Ron Curry returned for the River Lions after a five-game absence, scoring eight points and dishing three assists. But Ahmad also credited his team’s defence for the win. “Defensive toughness, defensive intensity, just being together on defence because offence isn't really our problem. We just got to stay consistent defensively,” he said. On the flip side, Winnipeg’s defence — which entered just one-tenth of a point better than Niagara per game and will exit with the dubious title of league’s worst defence — continued to struggle. Niagara’s offence made 45 per cent of its three-point attempts and five different players scored in double digits. Head coach Mike Taylor pinpointed focus as the reason for his team’s losing streak. “We really had a spirited comeback, put ourselves in a good position, but there were too many possessions in the early part of the game where we kind of got in our own way. And it's been a theme at times. We've been inconsistent,” he said. “And today that put us behind the eight ball to 19 turnovers. We've been a team that's taken care of the basketball really well all year. Unfortunately, today, we were a little bit disorganized.” Sea Bears leading scorer Simi Shittu was ejected from the game early in the fourth quarter after picking up his fifth personal foul. In his place, Winnipeg native Emmanuel Akot paced his squad with 22 points to go with six rebounds and two assists. Harris ended with 21 points after his Target Time splurge. Akot said Winnipeg let Niagara build too big of an early lead, but he was happy with his team’s spirit to fight back. “But at the end of the day, winning is what matters, and we just got to go back to the office and figure things out,” Akot said. Canadian Olympian Dillon Brooks, who was recently traded from the NBA’s Houston Rockets to the Phoenix Suns, attended the game. The River Lions led 28-24 after a fast-paced first quarter and extended their lead to 51-38 by halftime. They took a 73-58 advantage into the final frame. But in the end, it was Ahmad — as per usual — coming up clutch when it mattered most, and Niagara was able to leave its home arena with a win. Box Score https://www.cebl.ca/game?id=2600635 Up Next Niagara heads to Montreal to face the Alliance on Sunday, while Winnipeg wraps its three-game road trip in Saskatchewan against the Rattlers next Friday. Next CEBL Action The surging Ottawa BlackJacks visit the Rattlers in Saturday’s lone contest. For the full 2025 CEBL schedule and up-to-date results, please visit cebl.ca/games . - CEBL -

The forward returns to the Bandits for his third season

No Dunn-Martin? No problem. Quincy Guerrier and the Montreal Alliance (6-6) stepped up in crunch time without their leading scorer in the lineup Thursday night to erase a 13-point deficit and stun Saskatchewan (3-11) in a Target Time thriller. It appeared that Saskatchewan was in the driver’s seat for their second victory on home court this season until a Malcolm Duvivier triple made it a one-point game late in the third quarter. It was a deja-vu of the first quarter, where the Rattlers were neck-and-neck with the visiting Alliance. Isaac Simon’s first-half scoring outburst catapulted Saskatchewan to a 13-point lead going into the second half, but they quickly let their lead slip through their hands. Montreal made five three-pointers in the third quarter, the last coming from Duvivier. By the start of the fourth, it was anyone’s game — and Montreal’s captain, Quincy Guerrier, knocked down three more from deep in the final frame. This game was a coin flIp as Saskatchewan only had a three-point lead going into Target Time, and the game was tied at 80 apiece with the Target Score set at 81. “I’d rather win ugly than lose pretty. It’s very tough to get wins,” reflected Montreal head coach Jermaine Small after the game. “I think it was a very character game for us. We didn’t have our best player in the game today. Moving forward, we can build on this momentum because it was a character win. I’m very proud of our guys.” Montreal was missing their star in Tavian Dunn-Martin and they will soon miss Guerrier as he heads to Summer League with the Toronto Raptors. Guerrier’s last triple gave Montreal a two-point buffer, and their 5-0 lead in Target Time gave them a two-point lead. “I think they did a great job moving the basketball. I think it came down to their offensive rebounding,” admitted Saskatchewan head coach Eric Magdanz. “They did a good job getting the offensive rebound, kicking out. It’s always difficult to recover off an offensive rebound.” Over the last seven days, Montreal came into this game leading the league in offensive rebounds with 16.5 per game (through two games) despite a 0-2 record. Tonight, they had 20 offensive boards and were +14 compared to Saskatchewan. It’s a disappointing loss for Saskatchewan, who now have the league-worst 3-11 record. Before tonight, they lost 97-85 against the league-best Vancouver Bandits after giving up a lead. Saskatchewan repeated its own history day. However, it was a special night for Developmental Player Isaac Simon and Nate Pierre-Louis. Simon, the University of Alberta Golden Bears player, scored his career-high 19 points on eight-for-13 shooting. At halftime, he talked about being aggressive and he did exactly that throughout the entire game. He made mince meat out of Ben Stevens on an iso play mid-way through the third quarter, stepping back on a mid-range jumper to make it a 17-point game. He even drew an offensive foul from former Developmental Player Alain Louis down low in the fourth quarter. Pierre-Louis notched over 100 assists this season after game-highs in 25 points and 13 assists. He came into this game being the second assist-leader in the league with 6.9 per game. “It’s a blessing. Just really grateful,” Pierre-Louis said. “I have great teammates.” Montreal’s Small and his team were equally grateful to walk away with a late-game comeback win tonight. Box score https://www.cebl.ca/game?id=2600633 Up next for both teams The Saskatchewan Rattlers (3-11) host the Ottawa BlackJacks (6-6) at SaskTel Centre on Saturday, July 5th. The Montreal Alliance (6-6) head back home to host the Niagara River Lions (7-5) at Verdun Auditorium on Sunday, July 6th. Next CEBL action The Winnipeg Sea Bears (5-8) head to Meridian Centre to face the Niagara River Lions (7-5) on Friday, July 4th. For the full 2025 CEBL schedule and up-to-date results, please visit cebl.ca/games . - CEBL -

There might be a new star trio in the CEBL. Facing the prospect of blowing what was once a 22-point lead, up by just six in Target Score Time following a furious rally, the threesome of Evan Gilyard Jr., Sean Miller-Moore and Greg Brown III, who combined for 60 points, connected to deliver one final dagger as the Calgary Surge held on for a 94-85 win over the home Brampton Honey Badgers on Thursday. Gilyard brought the ball up and worked into a dribble-handoff with Moore, who snaked through the lane and kicked it to Brown in the right corner for the team’s 10th and final triple of the game. The basket was vital as it stopped what was a 13-2 Brampton charge once the clocks had stopped and gave Calgary the breathing room it needed to carve out a victory, now 9-4 on the season and just one game back of the Vancouver Bandits atop the West. “Unbelievable for us,” Surge head coach Caleb Canales said of the leading trio post-game. “Rugzy has been unbelievable for us from the first game, Greg too, and Evan has immediately just fit right in.” Leading that charge was Gilyard, who finished with a game-high 25 points on four-of-nine shooting from distance to go with four assists and three steals in his impressive CEBL debut. Meanwhile, Brown chipped in 19 points, 10 assists and three blocks, while Miller-Moore added 16 points, six rebounds and two blocks as the trio accounted for over 60 per cent of Calgary’s offensive production on a night they were missing their second-leading scorer in Jameer Nelson Jr. On the other side, Marcus Carr scored a team-high 20 points to go with six rebounds and seven assists in 31 minutes off the bench. Behind him were Amari Kelly (13 points, 10 rebounds) and Prince Oduro (12 points, 12 rebounds) with a pair of double-doubles, while Quinndary Weatherspoon and Bryson Williams each chipped in 13 points, respectively. The loss dropped the Honey Badgers to 4-9, remaining in last place in the East. While Calgary got multiple contributions on the night, none were as immediate or as notable as the energy Gilyard provided. The Surge debutant had a 90-second stretch to open the game that included six points, a steal, and a charge that almost single-handedly sparked a 10-0 run that helped his team carve out a 27-11 lead following the first quarter. Talk about a first impression. “It was great,” Gilyard said of his first taste of CEBL basketball. “I played some pretty good defence, helped my teammates out and made things easy for them … control the game in every aspect.” Meanwhile, underscoring that early effort was Calgary’s dominance inside, holding Brampton to 3-of-14 shooting (21 per cent) on two-pointers for a 16-4 edge on paint points after 10 minutes. The trend continued till the end as the Honey Badgers finished 19-of-55 (34 per cent) inside the arc, as the Surge finished plus-10 for points in the paint. And although it seemed as though the Surge simply wouldn’t relinquish their momentum, going on an 8-0 run in the second — capped with back-to-back triples — to lead by as many as 20 points, the Honey Badgers did show some resilience, to their credit. They responded with an 11-3 charge to cut that deficit as low as 12 points before ultimately trailing 52-37 at halftime. Leading that comeback effort for Brampton was Carr, who scored 11 points in the second to lead all scorers at the break with 13 points on 5-of-6 shooting. “Calgary came out ready to play,” the Toronto native said post-game. “The way we started the game … we did kind of a good job towards the end, we kept fighting, but at the end of the day, we dug ourselves too deep into a hole. The Honey Badgers kept chipping from there, using an 8-2 run following Quinndary Weatherspoon’s first basket of the game mid-way through the third, a transition triple, to cut Brampton’s deficit back down to single digits for the first time since the 2:09 mark of the first. However, it was Calgary’s turn to respond to adversity, or rather, Brown’s turn, as the forward scored seven straight points as part of a 15-2 run en route to a 72-56 Surge lead after 30 minutes. Meanwhile, Brampton, as it has done for many stretches this season, got in its own way by committing eight turnovers in the third, as part of 23 for the game. All of which afforded Calgary a 30-12 edge on points off those miscues. A trend that’s plagued the Honey Badgers for much of the year as they entered Thursday leading the league with 16.8 turnovers per game. “We played our style of basketball,” Canales said on his team winning the turnover battle and it leading to easy transition points and a 26-9 advantage for fastbreak scoring. “Defence to offence, I thought we did a good job.” Aside from the Surge as a whole, Gabe Osabuohien proved to be a direct beneficiary of those Honey Badger turnovers. The Toronto native corralled an errant Brampton pass and threw it ahead to Brown for a transition triple at the 4:59 mark of the third. The make not only pushed Calgary’s lead back up to 14, but it also marked Osabuohien’s 100th assist all-time in the CEBL (regular season + playoffs). He’s just the 55th player in league history to reach that mark. The Honey Badgers, despite their many miscues, did win the battle on the glass (56-40), and that edge proved vital as they continued to mount comeback efforts. Brampton secured six offensive rebounds in the fourth as part of 20 for the game (plus-11) to score 15 second-chance points. That effort was a catalyst as the Honey Badgers won the final 20 minutes by six points and appeared on the verge of an epic rally for the Brampton faithful in attendance, which included Toronto native and Canadian senior national team member Nickeil Alexander-Walker. Back-to-back triples from the Honey Badgers, followed by a Carr layup, bookended an 8-0 run that had Brampton within striking distance. But it was all for not, as the Surge took care of business to seal the win — Jamarko Pickett credited with the game-winning layup after David Muenkat was called for a goaltend, the final of his nine points on the night. Box Score https://www.cebl.ca/game?id=2600631 Up next Both squads return to the court on Sunday, starting with the Surge visiting the Edmonton Stingers for the final Battle of Alberta this regular season. Meanwhile, the Honey Badgers depart from Brampton to take on the West-leading Vancouver Bandits. Next CEBL action The Montreal Alliance visit the Saskatchewan Rattlers in a cross-conference class at 9:30 p.m. ET / 7:30 p.m. local to wrap up Thursday’s double-header slate. For the full 2025 CEBL schedule and up-to-date results, please visit cebl.ca/games . - CEBL -

Haviah Mighty, The Funk Hunters, and other top Canadian acts also set to perform at Championship Weekend

The Chicago, IL native appeared in 46 games with the Raptors 905 of the NBA G League

Tie ball game, next basket wins — it doesn’t get better than that in the CEBL. And who better to play hero than Zach Copeland, capping off his return to the lineup and team-high scoring night with a side-step triple to seal a 100-97 Vancouver Bandits victory over the Scarborough Shooting Stars on Tuesday. “Just wanted a little space, that’s all I needed,” Copeland said post-game, reflecting on the game-winner. “I’ve done this before and I just wanted to come through again.” With their second consecutive win, the Bandits improved to 10-3 and extended their lead atop the Western Conference. Meanwhile, the Shooting Stars fell to 7-7 and remain in second place behind the Niagara River Lions in the East following a second straight road loss. Copeland finished the game with 28 points and five made threes on a 41 per cent clip, all of which came after he had missed the team’s last 11 contests. Behind him was Bandits' captain Mitch Creek with 20 points, six rebounds and five assists, and Corey Davis Jr., who put up a double-double of 18 points and 12 assists while finishing a game-high plus-15 in the narrow victory. “Easily one of the best point guards I’ve coached,” Bandits head coach and general manager Kyle Julius said of Davis’ impact after the game. “Both sides of the ball, no one scores on him one-on-one … he plays with passion, toughness and the guys respect him.” On the other side, Terquavion Smith also put up a team-high 28 points (on 11-of-17 shooting) to go with nine rebounds. Donovan Williams (16 points, 10 rebounds) and Kalif Young (10 points, 11 rebounds) did their part as well with double-double efforts. It was a milestone night for Young, as the big man passed Jordan Baker for the all-time regular season lead in rebounds (523). Rounding out Scarborough’s efforts was Jaden Campbell, who added 17 points off the bench on 6-of-9 shooting. “Our controllables needed to be better down the stretch,” Shooting Stars head coach Mike DeGiorgio said after the loss. “We have to go back to the drawing board … it’s a result-based business.” Tuesday’s contest between the cross-conference opponents was the type of edge-of-your-seat intrigue that the CEBL built itself on when implementing the Target Score ending. It was a game of runs that saw Vancouver lead by as many as 17 points in the first half, using a 13-5 run to open the ball game, and a perfect 3-for-3 start from Samuel, to do so. But as the Montreal native, along with Davis, missed most of the second quarter as both dealt with foul trouble, Scarborough stormed back. Using a 12-4 run sparked by eight straight points from Smith, then a quarter-ending 6-0 charge that was capped off with a Jayden Coke transition slam. It turned the double-digit deficit into a far more manageable 50-43 score in favour of the Bandits headed into halftime. And the Shooting Stars kept that momentum coming out of the break, opening the second half on a 13-4 run to take their first lead of the ball game on a Smith transition layup. Creating that fastbreak opportunity was Cat Barber, who, while struggling to score (three points on 1-of-8 shooting), grabbed two steals to pass the 100 mark — just the third player in CEBL history to do so. “We were all over the glass and it allowed us to hit first,” De Giorgio said when asked how his team took charge in the third, noting his team won the rebounding battle 49-40 on the night. Scarborough wasn’t able to extend that lead to double digits, however, as Vancouver punched back to end the third, using an 8-0 run and hitting three triples in the final two minutes to bring its deficit down to 72-70 before the fourth quarter. The Bandits then re-took the lead by starting the final frame on an 8-0 run, going up by as many as eight points in the fourth before holding onto a 90-89 lead headed into Target Score Time. “You’re not going to win every night by 20 points,” Julis said. “We have to stay poised and execute, and we did a good job of that.” And it was fitting that with the clocks stopped, it remained a back-and-forth affair, both teams trading baskets. Smith tied the ball game at 97 with a free throw, but missed the second intentionally with hopes of scoring a game-winner off it. Instead, he stepped out of bounds while trying to corral the loose ball. All of which set up Copeland to bring the 4,408 in attendance at the Langley Events Centre to their feet with his fifth and final three of the game. The import scored six of Vancouver’s 10 points in Target Score Time. Underscoring the Bandits' victory was a strong effort to win the turnover battle. They forced 21 turnovers off the Shooting Stars, who entered Tuesday averaging 14.9 per game. No player was bothered more by the pressure than Williams who accounted for nine of those turnovers. It resulted in a plus-six margin in points off turnovers that proved to be the difference. “That’s what we do,” Copeland explained on winning the turnover margin. “We want to run off misses or makes, we’re trying to get out in transition … put pressure on the defence.” Box Score https://www.cebl.ca/game?id=2600629 Up next The Bandits return on Sunday to wrap up a three-game homestand by hosting the Brampton Honey Badgers. Meanwhile, the Shooting Stars head back to Scarborough, getting some time off before returning to take the Edmonton Stingers on July 11 with hopes of avenging a 17-point loss from two weeks prior. Next CEBL action Action resumes on Thursday with four teams taking the court for a double-header slate. Starting with the Honey Badgers hosting the Calgary Surge in cross-conference play at 7:30 p.m. ET, followed by the Montreal Alliance visiting the Saskatchewan Rattlers at 9:30 p.m. ET / 7:30 p.m. local. For the full 2025 CEBL schedule and up-to-date results, please visit cebl.ca/games . - CEBL -