Canuck’s defence will help River Lions succeed
Mike Allison has cracked the roster of the Niagara River Lions basketball team.
The 6-foot-9 forward played in the National Basketball League of Canada last season with the Mississauga Power, where he averaged 7.3 points and 5.4 rebounds in his rookie season.
With less than two weeks to go until the opening tip-off on Boxing Day, Allison is confident the River Lions will do well in their inaugural season.
“I think we’re going to do pretty good,” he said. “This just has a different feel to it. I feel like all the guys are together and I feel like we have a good shot at doing some good stuff.”
It was almost not meant to be for Allison, as a professional job over the Atlantic almost stopped the Lynden, Ont., native from signing with the River Lions.
“Originally I was going to go play in Germany,” Allison said. “Ken Murray recruited me way back in the summer and I said that I had my heart set on going to Europe, but if anything changes, I’ll be right here.
Thing changed when he was released from his job in Germany.
“The next day, I called Ken and let him know that I was his guy and that I wanted to play for him, and I haven’t looked back since.”
For Murray, he couldn’t be happier with Allison’s decision to join the organization, bringing an array of different skills that will help on the court.
“Mike is a very good defensive player,” Murray said, on Monday. “He’s definitely going to help us from a defensive standpoint, that’s sort of his forte.
“He moves really well for a guy his size, jumps extremely well, so we would expect a good season out of him this year.”
Allison will also bring a versatility that not many players possess.
“He’s normally been labelled as a five, which is your cen- tre position, but we’re looking at him more as a four, which is your power forward,” the head coach said. “He can guard a little further from the basket, which a four man has to do, and because he’s very athletic he can guard a lot of guys even smaller than he is.”
In the past couple weeks, the River Lions have been practising at both the Boys and Girls Club of Niagara, and more recently Niagara College in Welland in preparation for opening day.
“The nice thing about Niagara College is that it’s a regulation court for us. It’s 10 feet longer and two feet wider,” Murray said, about the home of the Knights. “The Boys and Girls Club has been wonderful for us, but this gets us more ready for game action right now.”