River Lions edge short-handed Rattlers as Jalen Harris leaves with injury
Down three starters to injury in the second half, Saskatchewan finally ran out of steam.
The short-handed Rattlers fell 94-87 to the Niagara River Lions on Saturday at the SaskTel Centre while playing without three of its top four scorers in Jalen Harris, Elijah Harkless and Maurice Calloo.
Harris was injured on the second-last play of the first half, staying down on the offensive baseline until halftime. He did not return for the remainder of the contest, with Rattlers head coach Larry Abney saying after the game that Harris hurt his knee and his ankle and that he needed to see doctors for more information.
Calloo was ruled out Saturday morning, while Harkless hurt himself during warmups and was determined unable to go just minutes before tip in Saskatoon.
Despite all of that, Saskatchewan managed to keep things close throughout the game and even led at halftime. But it couldn’t keep pace with Niagara for a full four quarters.
In the end, it marked the fourth straight loss for the Rattlers, who fell to 5-6 on the season after starting 3-0. They now sit last in the Western Conference, one game out of the final playoff spot.
“I thought they did a great job. They did everything I asked them to do, they battled to the end,” Abney said. “I like that because it’s something we can build on. We’ll have some help coming in pretty soon, get some guys back healthy, and if the guys who played tonight can come with that enthusiasm, that energy, we’ll get out of the bottom.”
The River Lions, on the other hand, increased their lead in the Eastern Conference, improving to 7-4 to move a full game ahead of the 6-5 Scarborough Shooting Stars in second place.
With a pair of three-win teams at the bottom of the East, Niagara is seemingly starting to click at the right time and can feel somewhat comfortable as it enters the second half of the season.
“I think it was really important,” said River Lions forward T.J. Lall, “because now we have a bigger lead in first place and it’s just good to keep the momentum going.”
It was Khalil Ahmad who led a balanced River Lions attack, flirting with a triple-double by recording 18 points, nine assists and seven rebounds in his 31-plus minutes of action. Big man Loudon Love added 14 points in 20 minutes off the bench, while T.J. Lall scored 13 points on the strength of four first-half three-pointers.
Stepping into a starting role due to the Rattlers’ injuries, Cody John paced the team with 23 points, while holdover starter Bryson Williams contributed 15 points and eight rebounds.
“Just next man up, because I saw guys were down,” John said. “And I’ve been preparing for this throughout the summer, so I just stayed ready mentally and when my name was called my coaches, my teammates believed in me.”
A pair of unlikely Rattlers scorers in Isaac Simon and Emmanuel Bandoumel added 14 and 16 points apiece.
“We definitely showed we got some dogs on the bench and I feel like we were missing that throughout these games,” John said.
A fast-paced first half saw the Rattlers run out to a 53-50 advantage, thanks in part to John who scored all but two of his points over the first 20 minutes, including a quartet of triples
Harris, meanwhile, was his usual solid self in putting up 10 points and six assists. The former Toronto Raptors second-round draft pick sits second among active players in both points and minutes per game.
Without Harris on the floor, the game slowed considerably after halftime. Saskatchewan was limited to just 34 points after putting 31 on the board in the second quarter alone.
Meanwhile, Niagara leaned on its defence led by the reigning Defensive Player of the Year in Ahmad, who recorded his first steal of the season in his fourth game.
Freed from guarding Harris, who was in street clothes by Target Score Time, Ahmad was able to wreak havoc and shut down John.
Still, the Rattlers stayed in the fight and trailed 85-84 to begin Target Score Time. But that’s when they appeared to finally run out of gas.
Niagara won Target Score Time 9-3, with Aaryn Rai icing the contest on a transition layup.
“I thought we gutted it out,” River Lions head coach Victor Raso said. “We’re going through that mid-season trying to refind ourselves. We were really good, on the same page early, and now we’re just kind of gutting these games out and I was proud of the guys for pulling through at the end.”
D’Andre Bernard, the longest-tenured Rattlers player, returned for his fourth season with the team on Saturday, playing six minutes in the loss.
What’s next?
Both teams are back in action on Monday when the Rattlers head to Edmonton for a date with the Stingers while the River Lions wrap a three-game road trip in Vancouver.
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