RIVER LIONS ANNOUNCE RE-SIGNING OF ELIJAH LUFILE AHEAD OF THE 2025 SEASON
St. Catharines, ON - The River Lions announced today the re-signing of 6’7 Canadian forward Elijah Lufile for the 2025 Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL) season. The Milton, Ontario native is currently playing for Denain ASC Voltaire of the LNB Pro B in France, where he is averaging 7.0 points and 5.7 rebounds in 17.5 minutes per game. Lufile also played for the Balikesir Buyuksehir Belediysepor with theTürkiye Basketbol Ligi (T-TBL) earlier in the 2024-2025 season posting an average of 8.9 points and 7.4 rebounds in 23.9 minutes per game.
"Elijah is a winner! He impacts winning in many different ways, but at the core of that is an outstanding ability to rebound the basketball - he is one of the best rebounders in the CEBL" said Head Coach and General Manager Victor Raso. "Elijah is an excellent teammate and person, and we are happy to have him back in our River Lions Community!"
Lufile’s signing comes just a week after the announcement of River Lions 2024 captain, Kimbal Mackenzie returning to the team, in addition to Jahvon Blair and Nathan Cayo.
Lufile began his collegiate career redshirting as a freshman at Lamar Community College in 2016-17. He then transferred to Midland College, where he played one season, averaging 13.6 points and leading the team with 8.1 rebounds, posting 10 double-doubles in 27 starts. In 2019 Lufile moved on to Oral Roberts University where in his senior season, he averaged 7.9 points and 7.1 rebounds while shooting an impressive 71.2% from the field.
Lufile began his professional career with the Salt Lake City Stars of the G League for the 2022-23 season where he averaged 5.0 points and 3.2 rebounds in 10.2 minutes per game.
In 2023, Lufile made his CEBL debut when he was selected to represent the league, playing for the Brampton Honey Badgers in the Basketball Champions League Americas (BCLA). During the 2023 CEBL season, he played nine games with the Calgary Surge before joining the Scarborough Shooting Stars. Prior to his 2024 season with the Niagara River Lions, Lufile had a standout year in Finland withJoensuun Kataja Basket in the Korisliiga, averaging 12.1 points and 9.8 rebounds in the 2023-2024 that season playing a key role in the team's success.
Lufile joined the River Lions in 2024 where he averaged 6.4 points, 6.5 rebounds, and 0.9 blocks in 18.4 minutes per game. His strong defensive presence played a key role in securing his second consecutive CEBL championship.
"Let's run it back River Lions! I'm so excited to be back with this organization." said Lufile, "We have the greatest fans with the best atmosphere. Let's get it!"
The Niagara River Lions are one of the original six teams of the
CEBL. Playing out of Meridian Centre in downtown St. Catharines, the River Lions represent the twelve municipalities of the Niagara Region while living up to the River Lions moniker of pride and strength of community. Season tickets, voucher packs, group tickets and single game tickets are on sale now. Visit
www.riverlions.ca/tickets for more information.
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