Hurricanes blow past River Lions
Despite cutting the lead to four points in the third quarter, the Niagara River Lions never overcame a 31-13 first quarter deficit dropping a 107-89 decision to the Halifax Hurricanes Friday night.
The message remains simple from River Lions head coach Joe Raso — he wants his team to play a full 48 minutes.
“We got bullied early in the game,” explained Raso. “We played hard and then lost our wheels. We need to teach better. Our aptitude needs to be higher. We all need to get on the same page, and we can’t play in spurts — we need to play in 48 minute segments.”
The Lions trailed 50-37 at halftime before cutting that lead to 5349 at the 7:52 mark of the third quarter, but that’s as close as they’d get in falling to (8-11) on the season.
Marvell Waithe drained 18 points to lead Niagara, while Sam Muldrow had 15 points and seven rebounds.
Tyrone Watson led all scorers with 22 points as the Hurricanes improved to (9-6) with the win.
Now past the midway point of the 40-game National Basketball League of Canada season, Raso admits he’d like to stay with the players he has, but won’t rule out making changes.
“I’m not happy until the fight is 48 minutes,” Raso said.
“As a staff we evaluate after every practice. So the midway point is just a measurement time which is fair. I have always felt the less changes you make the better, so I’ve been patient. But saying that, if we can improve our team, and chance to win, we will.”
The River Lions now return home to face Moncton on Sunday. Game time is 2 p.m. at Meridian Centre.
Lion Pride: The third quarter was the only quarter the River Lions outscored Halifax (29-25) .... Omar Strong did not dress for Niagara who committed 17 turnovers compared to the Hurricanes nine .... The Lions have played just six of their 21 games at home.