River Lions roar past Bandits in dramatic CEBL Final to win 1st-ever championship
Champions of the CEBL jungle at long last, the Niagara River Lions should sleep soundly tonight.
The River Lions beat the Vancouver Bandits in dramatic fashion, 97-95, to hoist the championship trophy on Sunday at Montreal’s Verdun Auditorium.
And yes, the team’s champagne-soaked celebration included a player rendition of The Tokens’ famous song The Lion Sleeps Tonight.
“I can’t even put it into words,” said Khalil Ahmad, who scored the CEBL Championship Final-winning basket. “This is my third summer here trying to get a chip and we finally got it done.”
But while the game ended with a celebratory howl for Niagara, the Bandits just as nearly stole the victory.
Niagara led 87-77 at the start of Target Score Time, but Vancouver slowly chipped away by winning rebound battles and watching a tired River Lions squad consistently settle for three-pointers.
Eventually, Niagara’s lead was whittled to two points at 94-92. With the River Lions in possession, Raso put the ball in the hands of two-time Clutch Player of the Year Khalil Ahmad, who drove to the net and got fouled, putting his team two free throws away from glory.
Ahmad made the first but missed the second.
“I can’t believe he missed the free throw,” head coach Victor Raso said. “I’ve never seen him miss a free throw like that, I don’t think ever. And then he just followed that up the next possession.”
In a seeming flash, Vancouver secured the rebound, came back down the court and tied the game at 95 courtesy of a Koby McEwen three-pointer — leaving both teams within a basket of the championship.
But that was as close as the Bandits would get.
Ahmad won the championship when he beat two defenders down the lane and rattled home a floater.
“That’s the biggest bucket of my life for sure. To get a chip like that on the third [season with Niagara], that’s the biggest bucket of my life. I can’t even put it into words,” Ahmad said.
Mitch Creek, who led the Bandits with 26 points, said his team put itself behind the eight-ball with a slow third quarter.
“When you put yourselves in a position to have to fight back, it’s really hard to repeatedly do that. We almost got lucky twice,” said Creek, whose Bandits survived a roller-coaster semifinal against Calgary. “Some of us might have to go to the casino and roll a few dice tonight and try to win back some of the emotions.
Creek said the Vancouver locker room was silent for 10 minutes after the game before head coach Kyle Julius said something he would not share.
“We go back to the hotel now and regroup, have a few beers, pat each other on the ass one more time and fly back to Vancouver and everyone goes on their own way,” Creek said.
One of the league’s Original Six teams, the River Lions were the model of consistency, making the playoffs in every season. The flip side of that is they soon become known as the team which couldn’t get it done when it counted most.
No longer.
“This organization has been elite in the CEBL, but we never had the validation of a championship,” head coach Victor Raso said. “We just needed this as an organization.”
While Ahmad, who scored 23 points, played hero, the River Lions’ victory was the result of a full team effort.
Omari Moore stuffed the stat sheet with 14 points, eight rebounds and five assists. Aaryn Rai contributed 15 points and seven rebounds while leading the team with a plus-11 mark. Team captain Kimbal Mackenzie, the emotional leader of the team, added four points to reach 500 for his CEBL career.
In the midst of the on-court celebration, Moore almost seemed surprised at his emotions. “It means something,” he bellowed.
Rai was sure to locate his parents amid the chaos, giving them each a big hug.
But it was perhaps Montreal native Nathan Cayo, playing in front of friends and family, who made the biggest impact, leading the team with 25 points while also adding eight rebounds and four assists.
“It feels amazing. To have all my family here is a blessing. I’m just grateful,” Cayo said.
For Vancouver, which won the West with a 14-6 record, it was not the end to their season they’d envisioned when arriving in Montreal earlier this week.
League MVP Tazé Moore was held to just six points on 2-for-11 shooting. More damningly, the man who led the league with 7.3 assists per game in the regular season was held without a single helper in the one that mattered most.
Creek also chipped in 13 rebounds, while McEwen scored 20 points and big man Nick Ward added 13 points and seven rebounds off the bench.
Creek said the loss was “sad, hard and tough.”
“You do so much and if you don’t feel emotion after a loss in the championship game it means you haven’t really done the work and put in the time and effort,” he said.
“You sit with it for a little bit. You sit and watch on court. You watch them cheer and chant and carry on like a pack of idiots just like we would as Bandits. You almost enjoy watching someone else win because you know at some point you’re going to get that opportunity.”
An exciting first half saw the teams trade leads throughout.
The Bandits built a five-point edge in the first quarter, only for the River Lions to roar back and go up 23-20 when the buzzer sounded on the frame.
Niagara kept it rolling early in the second and led by as many as eight, but Vancouver punched back with a 14-2 run. A late Duane Notice three-pointer sent the Bandits into halftime with a 46-44 advantage.
Notably, Tazé Moore struggled through the first 20 minutes, managing just two points and taking his frustrations out in an unsportsmanlike foul against Niagara’s Moore.
After halftime, the River Lions slowly started to take control. An 11-0 run powered them to what was then a game-high 12-point lead, and the East champions carried a 71-62 advantage into the fourth quarter.
Tension built when the clock turned off and the game began featuring plenty of stoppages for timeouts and reviews.
For a few moments, it seemed as though the Bandits would pull off the biggest Target Score Time comeback in CEBL playoff history.
Instead, the River Lions roared to their long-awaited championship.
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About the CEBL
A league created by Canadians for Canadians with a mission to develop Canadian players, coaches, sports executives, and referees, the CEBL boasts the highest percentage of Canadian players of any pro league in the country with 75% of its rosters being Canadian and a record 10 players with NBA experience in 2024. Players also bring experience from the NBA G League, top international pro leagues, the Canadian National team program, NCAA programs, as well as U SPORTS and CCAA. Fourteen players have signed NBA contracts following a CEBL season, and numerous CEBL players attend NBA G League training camps every year. The CEBL season runs from May through August with games broadcast live on CEBL+ powered by BetVictor, TSN, TSN+, RDS, Game+, Next Level Sports & Entertainment and Courtside1891. More information about the CEBL is available at CEBL.ca and @cebleague on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, LinkedIn, Facebook & YouTube.