The Saskatchewan Rattlers left the Meridian Centre disappointed on Friday, as they fell to the hosting Niagara River Lions 89-97.
Niagara shot lights-out from the opening tip, as they hit three of their first four attempts from deep and took an early 9-2 lead. Layups from Gentrey Thomas and Rattler’s newcomer Ali Haidar narrowed the lead to three, but a layup from Nem Mitrovic layup brought it up to five.
The Rattlers kept it close all quarter, and an Alex Campbell layup gave the visitors a one-point lead to end the quarter 18-17.
The second quarter played out much differently than the first, as the River Lions grabbed the lead two minutes in and never looked back. Back-to-back threes gave the home team a five-point lead, which they then grew to nine, finishing the half up 44-35.
Saskatchewan was determined to regain the lead in the second half. The visitors went on a 7-0 run, with Dawson scoring every point. Trae Bell-Haynes scored four straight points, bringing the lead back to six, but seven more unanswered points from the Rattlers gave Saskatchewan a one-point lead.
The lead bounced back-and-forth, with the score 54-53 in favour of the home team at the halfway mark of the quarter. Niagara proceeded to score nine unanswered points out of an official timeout and held the lead for the remainder of the quarter. At the buzzer, the River Lions led 70-61.
Niagara continued to grow their lead in the final quarter, at one time leading Saskatchewan by 18 points. The visitors refused to back down, going on a 9-0 run with only two minutes remaining to make it a five-point game. Their efforts came too late though, as Niagara defeated the Rattlers 97-89.
Tavrion Dawson led the way for the Rattlers, scoring 23 points. Lawrence Moore had an impressive Rattlers debut, scoring 12 points off the bench.
Trae Bell-Haynes scored a team-high 21 points for the River Lions.
With their loss, the Rattlers finished the season series against Niagara 0-4. Their overall record falls to 6-6.
The River Lions are the first team in CEBL history to crack double-digits in the win column. They’ll travel to BC to play the Fraser Valley Bandits on Thursday.
As for the Rattlers, they’ll return home for a match against the Hamilton Honey Badgers on Friday.
