River Lions roughed up
Raso takes blame for team’s poor effort
Good coaches know when to deflect attention away from their players.
Joe Raso is a good coach. Sunday afternoon, 10 minutes after the Niagara River Lions dropped a 122-104 decision to the St. John’s Edge, Raso blamed himself for the River Lions listless effort.
“Today we got beat at every position in every way, and it started from the coaching,” Raso said.
“They’re on the road and they just outworked us, they out executed us, they played harder, they were more prepared, they’re at a whole different level than where we’re at.
“So I’m going to say the problem is the coaching.”
The game was tied 25-25 after one quarter of play, and 55-55 at the half, but the Lions were outscored by 13 points in the third quarter and five points in the fourth.
“Their guys were playing hard and executing, our guys are not, and ultimately I have to be the guy accountable for it,” said Raso.
“Today was a beating where we came out and had opportunities early and we messed around with the game, and didn’t have intensity. Guys aren’t just paying attention.”
Both teams were playing their third games in two and half days, but St. John’s looked like the fresher club.
“They had tougher schedule than we did,” Raso said. “It’s just that their satisfaction level is at a whole other level than ours.
“I go back to the coaching part of it again. I can’t get our guys prepared against a team at that level right now. I’ve got to do a better Shooting percentage: River Lions: 43.9; Edge: 57.0
Rebounds: Niagara 32; St. John’s 38
Turnovers: River Lions 9; Edge 9 Free throws: Niagara 39-46; St. John’s 15-21
Attendance: 1,629
Up next: The River Lions have a full week off before welcoming the Kitchener-Waterloo Titans next Sunday afternoon. Tip-off at Meridian Centre is 2 p.m. job of finding a way to get that done.”
You could sense the frustration from the Niagara players with their body language down the stretch, but Raso remained steadfast as to what his belief is on that.
“You have once chance to make a first impression. There was someone here (today) that watched our team for the first time, and they’re going to leave with an impression and (today’s) impression is not going to be favourable.”
Guillaume Boucard led the River Lions and all scorers with 31 points, but had only six points in the second half.
Niagara fell to 10-13 with the loss, while the Edge improved to 14-7 with the win. The Lions will now have a full week of practice before welcoming the Kitchener-Waterloo Titans next Sunday afternoon. Game time at Meridian Centre is 2 p.m.
“You only have one chance every night to make an impression, and that’s what we tell the guys, and right now it’s not sinking in really well,” said Raso.
“We’ve got find a different way of getting this done right now. I have to sit back and evaluate what I’m doing, how I’m doing it, and evaluate everyone. The good thing is we don’t have a game until Sunday so I have to take care of that.”
Lion Pride: Max Hooper was the lone River Lion to play and not to find the scoresheet Sunday afternoon … Saturday night on the road, Jaylon Tate drained 25 points and dished out 14 assists as Niagara got by the Kitchener-Waterloo Titans 103-96. Carl Hall added 24 points in the Lions victory.