Award-winning Canadian entrepreneur becomes co-owner of the league, with the goal of growing the business of basketball in Canada The Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL) announced Thursday that Drew Green , an award-winning CEO, entrepreneur, and expert in launching and managing innovative high-growth companies, has been appointed as the first-ever Chair of the CEBL Board of Governors. Green has also become a co-owner of the league. A visionary leader and accomplished entrepreneur, Green’s role as Chair will include instituting new formal governance at a Board level, working alongside the team to attract strategic investors, partners and international relationships for the league, and advise the commissioner and team owners on league business matters. “Being able to attract an experienced and highly accomplished leader like Drew Green is an incredible win for the CEBL and for Canadian basketball,” said Mike Morreale, Commissioner & Co-Founder of the Canadian Elite Basketball League. “Drew’s business success speaks for itself and his passion for the game mimics all involved in making the CEBL a homegrown and global success. His investment into the league demonstrates his strong belief of our bright future and recognizes the foundation that has been built during our formative years. Personally, I look forward to getting right to work with Drew on the next stage of the CEBL and the growth of our game.” Green currently serves as Chief Executive Officer of INDOCHINO, one of Canada’s fastest-growing apparel brands, globally. Between 2014-24, INDOCHINO has secured over $100M in strategic capital commitments from major firms like Madrona Venture Partners, Highland Consumer, Dayang Group, Mitsui & Co. and Postmedia Network, expanding the company to 145 retail locations across Canada and the United States and has served customers in over 50 countries. In addition, he has procured partnerships with hundreds of celebrities and professional athletes for INDOCHINO, along with MLB, NHL, NBA and NFL teams. Drew’s family office DREWGREEN INC. has empowered dozens of entrepreneurs and 100’s of companies across Canada and the US, in industries ranging from Fintech, Edtech, eCommerce, through to Real Estate. A full business profile and list of Green’s accolades can be found HERE and HERE . “Anyone that has been paying attention knows the CEBL is a rapidly growing and vibrant brand with boundless potential that has made great strides in a very short period of time,” said Green. “It is truly a league built by Canadians, for Canadians, and this resonates with my family – the epitome of a basketball family in Canada. We are basketball players, the sport is near and dear to our hearts, and we are fans of the CEBL. The league has been a catapult for the growth of the sport in our country, and I can’t wait to help lift basketball in Canada to new heights.” Drew and his wife Andrea Dayco are basketball parents through and through. Their sons Liam (18) and Aidan (16) Dayco-Green are two of the top U19 prospects in Canada, and both represented by Tandem Sports and Entertainment Agency and NBA agent Elias Sbiet. Liam plays NCAA D1 at Florida Atlantic University for NCAA National Championship winner John Jakus, and Aidan is at Montverde Academy playing for legendary coach Kevin Boyle. Canada Basketball invited Aidan to its U17 camp at 15 in 2024, with Liam being invited to its U23 camp in 2025. For many years, the family has awarded annual scholarships to student athletes (basketball) at York University and University of British Columbia. The CEBL, Canada’s largest professional sports league with 10 teams in six provinces, will embark on its seventh season next summer after again posting record growth numbers across the business in 2024. More than 4.2 million fans now follow the CEBL in Canada and internationally, culminating in over 9.6 million social media views this year. Since 2022, the CEBL has seen an unprecedented 89% increase in league-wide attendance and a 97% increase in overall broadcast viewership. All games are available on CEBL+ powered by BetVictor and TSN+ , and in 2024, more than 50 CEBL games were broadcast live nationally on TSN , Canada’s Sports Leader, and Game+ , with an additional eight games in French on RDS . The league has also developed numerous significant partnerships in just six short years, including meaningful relationships with Canada Basketball, U SPORTS and iconic brands like Spalding and New Era. - CEBL - About the CEBL A league created by Canadians for Canadians with a mission to develop Canadian players, coaches, sports executives, and referees, the CEBL boasts the highest percentage of Canadian players of any pro league in the country with 75% of its rosters being Canadian and a record 12 players with NBA experience in 2024. Players also bring experience from the NBA G League, top international pro leagues, the Canadian National team program, NCAA programs, as well as U SPORTS and CCAA. Twenty-two players have signed NBA contracts following a CEBL season, and numerous CEBL players attend NBA G League training camps every year. The CEBL season runs from May through August with games broadcast live on CEBL+ powered by BetVictor, TSN , TSN+ , RDS , Game+ , Next Level Sports & Entertainment and Courtside1891 . More information about the CEBL is available at CEBL.ca and @cebleague on Instagram , Twitter , TikTok , LinkedIn , Facebook & YouTube . Media Contact : Aaron Gogishvili – Sr. Director, Communications & Community Relations Canadian Elite Basketball League (905) 730-4691 | agogishvili@cebl.ca

Champions of the CEBL jungle at long last, the Niagara River Lions should sleep soundly tonight. The River Lions beat the Vancouver Bandits in dramatic fashion, 97-95, to hoist the championship trophy on Sunday at Montreal’s Verdun Auditorium. And yes, the team’s champagne-soaked celebration included a player rendition of The Tokens’ famous song The Lion Sleeps Tonight. “I can’t even put it into words,” said Khalil Ahmad, who scored the CEBL Championship Final-winning basket. “This is my third summer here trying to get a chip and we finally got it done.” But while the game ended with a celebratory howl for Niagara, the Bandits just as nearly stole the victory. Niagara led 87-77 at the start of Target Score Time, but Vancouver slowly chipped away by winning rebound battles and watching a tired River Lions squad consistently settle for three-pointers. Eventually, Niagara’s lead was whittled to two points at 94-92. With the River Lions in possession, Raso put the ball in the hands of two-time Clutch Player of the Year Khalil Ahmad, who drove to the net and got fouled, putting his team two free throws away from glory. Ahmad made the first but missed the second. “I can’t believe he missed the free throw,” head coach Victor Raso said. “I’ve never seen him miss a free throw like that, I don’t think ever. And then he just followed that up the next possession.” In a seeming flash, Vancouver secured the rebound, came back down the court and tied the game at 95 courtesy of a Koby McEwen three-pointer — leaving both teams within a basket of the championship. But that was as close as the Bandits would get. Ahmad won the championship when he beat two defenders down the lane and rattled home a floater. “That’s the biggest bucket of my life for sure. To get a chip like that on the third [season with Niagara], that’s the biggest bucket of my life. I can’t even put it into words,” Ahmad said. Mitch Creek, who led the Bandits with 26 points, said his team put itself behind the eight-ball with a slow third quarter. “When you put yourselves in a position to have to fight back, it’s really hard to repeatedly do that. We almost got lucky twice,” said Creek, whose Bandits survived a roller-coaster semifinal against Calgary. “Some of us might have to go to the casino and roll a few dice tonight and try to win back some of the emotions. Creek said the Vancouver locker room was silent for 10 minutes after the game before head coach Kyle Julius said something he would not share. “We go back to the hotel now and regroup, have a few beers, pat each other on the ass one more time and fly back to Vancouver and everyone goes on their own way,” Creek said. One of the league’s Original Six teams, the River Lions were the model of consistency, making the playoffs in every season. The flip side of that is they soon become known as the team which couldn’t get it done when it counted most. No longer. “This organization has been elite in the CEBL, but we never had the validation of a championship,” head coach Victor Raso said. “We just needed this as an organization.” While Ahmad, who scored 23 points, played hero, the River Lions’ victory was the result of a full team effort. Omari Moore stuffed the stat sheet with 14 points, eight rebounds and five assists. Aaryn Rai contributed 15 points and seven rebounds while leading the team with a plus-11 mark. Team captain Kimbal Mackenzie, the emotional leader of the team, added four points to reach 500 for his CEBL career. In the midst of the on-court celebration, Moore almost seemed surprised at his emotions. “It means something,” he bellowed. Rai was sure to locate his parents amid the chaos, giving them each a big hug. But it was perhaps Montreal native Nathan Cayo, playing in front of friends and family, who made the biggest impact, leading the team with 25 points while also adding eight rebounds and four assists. “It feels amazing. To have all my family here is a blessing. I’m just grateful,” Cayo said. For Vancouver, which won the West with a 14-6 record, it was not the end to their season they’d envisioned when arriving in Montreal earlier this week. League MVP Tazé Moore was held to just six points on 2-for-11 shooting. More damningly, the man who led the league with 7.3 assists per game in the regular season was held without a single helper in the one that mattered most. Creek also chipped in 13 rebounds, while McEwen scored 20 points and big man Nick Ward added 13 points and seven rebounds off the bench. Creek said the loss was “sad, hard and tough.” “You do so much and if you don’t feel emotion after a loss in the championship game it means you haven’t really done the work and put in the time and effort,” he said. “You sit with it for a little bit. You sit and watch on court. You watch them cheer and chant and carry on like a pack of idiots just like we would as Bandits. You almost enjoy watching someone else win because you know at some point you’re going to get that opportunity.” An exciting first half saw the teams trade leads throughout. The Bandits built a five-point edge in the first quarter, only for the River Lions to roar back and go up 23-20 when the buzzer sounded on the frame. Niagara kept it rolling early in the second and led by as many as eight, but Vancouver punched back with a 14-2 run. A late Duane Notice three-pointer sent the Bandits into halftime with a 46-44 advantage. Notably, Tazé Moore struggled through the first 20 minutes, managing just two points and taking his frustrations out in an unsportsmanlike foul against Niagara’s Moore. After halftime, the River Lions slowly started to take control. An 11-0 run powered them to what was then a game-high 12-point lead, and the East champions carried a 71-62 advantage into the fourth quarter. Tension built when the clock turned off and the game began featuring plenty of stoppages for timeouts and reviews. For a few moments, it seemed as though the Bandits would pull off the biggest Target Score Time comeback in CEBL playoff history. Instead, the River Lions roared to their long-awaited championship. - CEBL - About the CEBL A league created by Canadians for Canadians with a mission to develop Canadian players, coaches, sports executives, and referees, the CEBL boasts the highest percentage of Canadian players of any pro league in the country with 75% of its rosters being Canadian and a record 10 players with NBA experience in 2024. Players also bring experience from the NBA G League, top international pro leagues, the Canadian National team program, NCAA programs, as well as U SPORTS and CCAA. Fourteen players have signed NBA contracts following a CEBL season, and numerous CEBL players attend NBA G League training camps every year. The CEBL season runs from May through August with games broadcast live on CEBL+ powered by BetVictor, TSN , TSN+ , RDS , Game+ , Next Level Sports & Entertainment and Courtside1891 . More information about the CEBL is available at CEBL.ca and @cebleague on Instagram , Twitter , TikTok , LinkedIn , Facebook & YouTube .

A first-time CEBL champion will be crowned on Sunday. In a battle of the regular season’s top teams, the Niagara River Lions (14-6) and Vancouver Bandits (14-6) will square off in the 2024 CEBL Championship Final at 6 p.m. ET / 3 p.m. PT at Verdun Auditorium in Montreal. Broadcast coverage of the game is available on TSN, RDS and Next Level Sports & Entertainment, while you can live stream the contest on CEBL+, TSN+, Courtside 1891, RDS.ca and the RDS app. The River Lions and Bandits, who were then known as Fraser Valley, are two of the league’s original six teams from the inaugural 2019 campaign. But neither has climbed the championship mountain. Niagara’s come agonizingly close, reaching the playoffs every year and making a Finals appearance in 2021. Similarly, Vancouver has only missed the post-season once, in its first season, and also made one Finals run in 2020. The parallels don’t end there. Both teams lost their lone Finals games to Xavier Moon-led Edmonton Stingers squads. And both survived intense semifinals battles just to get to their second. The River Lions, despite drawing an easy matchup in the 6-14 Montreal Alliance on paper, were forced to deal with a raucous crowd and a feisty defence, which led to 27 missed three-pointers and 11 bricked free throws. But like he has so many times in the past, two-time Clutch Player of the Year Khalil Ahmad scored Niagara’s final six points to snatch a 78-75 victory from the jaws of defeat. The West final was more offensively minded as the Bandits and Calgary Surge traded blows for 36 minutes. But scoring dried up during Target Score Time, and both teams had multiple chances to win it before a Zach Copeland triple finally ended the proceedings with an 89-87 Bandits victory. River Lions head coach Victor Raso said he likes how it all shook out for his side. “Vancouver survived a game because a guy missed an open layup. We had to survive the worst shooting performance of the year, and we just survived an incredible Ottawa team [in the East semifinal]. I like where we’re at,” Raso said. Despite the River Lions’ shooting woes, the Finals present a fascinating offensive battle between the league’s top-two regular-season scoring teams. The Bandits just barely outscored the River Lions 94.7 to 94.1 points per game, and the West side also held a slight shooting edge at 46.3 per cent to 46.1 per cent. Niagara, though, will be without starting guard Jahvon Blair, its second-leading scorer who returned to his professional team in France. On the other side, the Bandits seemed re-energized by the late-season arrival of Australian big man Mitch Creek, who scored 25.8 points per game in six regular-season contests and added a franchise playoff record 27 points against the Surge. The teams’ lone matchup of the season came on Canada Day, when a Tazé Moore triple-double powered a 10-83 blowout victory for the Bandits. Moore went on to win MVP, while head coach Kyle Julius took top coaching honours and Koby McEwen was named Canadian Player of the Year. The River Lions earned just one individual accolade, a Sixth Man of the Year nod for forward Aaryn Rai. But none of that matters now, as one team will spend Sunday night celebrating with the championship trophy. Milestone watch Niagara’s Kimbal Mackenzie is four points away from 500 for his career, including playoffs Niagara’s Ahmad is 18 points away from 300 this season Niagara’s Nathan Cayo is 13 points away from 300 this season Vancouver’s Duane Notice is one steal away from 50 for his career, including playoffs Vancouver’s Nick Ward is six points away from 350 this season - CEBL - About the CEBL A league created by Canadians for Canadians with a mission to develop Canadian players, coaches, sports executives, and referees, the CEBL boasts the highest percentage of Canadian players of any pro league in the country with 75% of its rosters being Canadian and a record 10 players with NBA experience in 2024. Players also bring experience from the NBA G League, top international pro leagues, the Canadian National team program, NCAA programs, as well as U SPORTS and CCAA. Fourteen players have signed NBA contracts following a CEBL season, and numerous CEBL players attend NBA G League training camps every year. The CEBL season runs from May through August with games broadcast live on CEBL+ powered by BetVictor, TSN , TSN+ , RDS , Game+ , Next Level Sports & Entertainment and Courtside1891 . More information about the CEBL is available at CEBL.ca and @cebleague on Instagram , Twitter , TikTok , LinkedIn , Facebook & YouTube .

In the Niagara River Lions’ locker room after the East final, there was singing and dancing. First though, there may also have been a few sighs of relief. The top-seeded River Lions escaped with a 78-75 win over the host Montreal Alliance on Friday at Verdun Auditorium thanks, once again, to Khalil Ahmad, the two-time Clutch Player of the Year who drained two straight three-pointers to seal the victory. The River Lions, who topped the East at 14-6 in the regular season, will meet the West’s top seed, the 14-6 Vancouver Bandits, in Sunday’s CEBL Finals back at Verdun. It’s a game Niagara enters with confidence knowing Ahmad, who also scored a franchise playoff record 31 points, is on their side. “He’s playing incredible basketball right now. You could tell from the start of the game, he is incredibly engaged and when the game is on the line, man, there’s not a secret to it. He’s an incredible athlete who is very, very well-trained, he takes his craft seriously and he has the ultimate confidence in himself,” River Lions head coach Raso said. “And he just does it. He makes us look good.” The Alliance led 69-67 when the clock turned off for Target Score Time, and the teams traded baskets as an already-intense contest ratcheted up a notch. Montreal (6-14), which automatically qualified for this game as hosts, punched back every time Niagara threw anything at them and seemed to control the pace for most of the game. Even after Ahmad made his first three-pointer in Target Score Time to put his team within a bucket of victory, Alliance guard Alain Louis answered back with a pair of free throws. But Ahmad came right back down the floor with a response of his own, nailing a deep, contested jumper to send Niagara to the championship game. “It’s taking me back to playing 21 with your friends, next point wins kind of thing,” Ahmad said. “But shout out to my teammates, because they carried me throughout the whole game. [I was] shooting terribly, missing free throws, et cetera, but [they were] giving me confidence, making big plays.” In addition to his scoring output, Ahmad collected 10 rebounds to complete a double-double. But he made just nine of 20 field-goal attempts (4-for-14 from beyond the arc) and missed five of his 14 tries from the free-throw line. At least some credit goes to the crowd of over 3,000 at Verdun Auditorium, which roared every time the Alliance made a basket — and especially when those points gave their team the lead. As a team, Niagara shot just 18 per cent from beyond the arc and 55 per cent from the line. “We won a game on our worst shooting day and we talked all year about that: how good are you on your worst day? And today was our worst day. And all credit goes to Montreal, those guys are athletic across the board,” Raso said. “[The River Lions players are] just a gritty, gritty, gritty group who always believes they have a chance. And a lot of that is because they always know that Khalil’s on our team.” Niagara, which was one of the league’s original six teams, has reached the playoffs in every year but only made the Finals once, when it lost to Edmonton in 2021. Now Victor Raso, the all-time coaching wins leader who took the River Lions’ helm in 2020, will get another shot to claim his title ring. Montreal’s season, meanwhile, ends despite a valiant effort. The Alliance went just 6-14 during the regular season but knew the entire time they’d be playing in this game and often spoke of the difficulty of maintaining focus with an automatic spot at Championship Weekend. Indeed, things played out that way as the playoff version of the Alliance played a much crisper form of basketball than its regular-season counterpart. Upon entering the post-game media room, head coach Derrick Alston Sr., spent a few moments going over the box score. His conclusion? “We played pretty fu-, we played pretty well,” he said with a laugh. Ahmed Hill paced a spread Alliance attack with 14 points, while Jordan Bowden added a 10-point, 11-rebound double-double. Alston Sr., said the team, which endured struggles and close losses throughout the campaign, peaked at the right time. “We gave them a run for their money. It sucks that it didn’t turn out our way especially at home, crowd was great. You just feel sad,” he said. Indiana Pacers guard Bennedict Mathurin, a Montreal native, was in the house for the game. Niagara’s Jahvon Blair, the team’s second-leading scorer, missed the game as he had to report back to his professional team in France. He won’t be available for the Finals either. The game began slowly as the teams combined for the lowest scoring quarter in playoff history, with the River Lions ahead 16-11 after 10 minutes. The Alliance fought back in the second quarter as the River Lions’ offence continued to struggle. But Ahmad finally seemed to take the lid off the rim in the final minute of the half, knocking down a pair of threes to send his team to the locker rooms with a 38-36 edge. With his pair of triples, Ahmad surpassed 100 career three-pointers. Yet Montreal withstood the brief flurry and continued to fight its way through the game. A buzzer-beating trey from Bowden put the Alliance up 59-54 entering the fourth quarter. Montreal led by as many as seven points in the fourth quarter before a 5-0 River Lions run sent the game to Target Score Time. Or, as it’s quickly becoming known, Ahmad Time. - CEBL - About the CEBL A league created by Canadians for Canadians with a mission to develop Canadian players, coaches, sports executives, and referees, the CEBL boasts the highest percentage of Canadian players of any pro league in the country with 75% of its rosters being Canadian and a record 10 players with NBA experience in 2024. Players also bring experience from the NBA G League, top international pro leagues, the Canadian National team program, NCAA programs, as well as U SPORTS and CCAA. Fourteen players have signed NBA contracts following a CEBL season, and numerous CEBL players attend NBA G League training camps every year. The CEBL season runs from May through August with games broadcast live on CEBL+ powered by BetVictor, TSN , TSN+ , RDS , Game+ , Next Level Sports & Entertainment and Courtside1891 . More information about the CEBL is available at CEBL.ca and @cebleague on Instagram , Twitter , TikTok , LinkedIn , Facebook & YouTube .

The body content of your post gIt’s a game that, on paper, shouldn’t be very close. But as we’ve seen time and time again, anything can happen in the CEBL playoffs. The Montreal Alliance (6-14) host the Niagara River Lions (14-6) in the East final at Verdun Auditorium on Friday at 8 p.m. ET. Broadcast coverage of the game is available on TSN and Next Level Sports & Entertainment, while you can live stream the contest on CEBL+, TSN+ and Courtside 1891. Whoever emerges victorious will face the winner of the West final — featuring the Vancouver Bandits (14-6) and Calgary Surge (11-9) — in Sunday’s CEBL Championship Final. The Alliance’s knowledge since before the season that they would be in this game as hosts has been commonly brought up as a reason for their season-long struggles. Perhaps it was difficult to produce full effort in a regular season largely devoid of stakes. But Montreal always said it planned to peak at the right time. Now, the Alliance enter the playoffs winners of their last two games, including a two-point victory over the Bandits. The question will be whether home court and momentum are enough to overcome a strong River Lions side. Niagara, meanwhile, took control of the East early in the season and never let up, but its season — and its perfect home record — nearly went up in smoke in Sunday’s East semi, when the Ottawa BlackJacks held a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter. But two-time Clutch Player of the Year Khalil Ahmad came to the rescue, scoring 13 straight points in Target Score Time including an alley-oop winner to punch his team’s ticket to Montreal and secure a much-desired date with the Alliance. The gulf between Niagara and Montreal largely comes on the offensive end. While the River Lions were second in the league with 94.1 points per game, the Alliance sat dead last at 84.5 points per game. For Montreal to succeed, then, it must rely on its defence, which was its biggest strength all season as the second-stingiest team overall — one spot better than Niagara. One key for the will be limiting their league-high 17.1 turnovers per game and preventing the River Lions from running out in transition — especially against a defence featuring Ahmad, who recorded six swipes against Ottawa. The River Lions won all three matchups against the Alliance during the regular season, but the final two were decided by a total of just eight points. For most of the season, onlookers have scoffed at Montreal’s chances in this game. Now they have a chance to prove them all wrong. Player spotlight Jordan Bowden led the Alliance with 17.4 points per game this season, but it’s unclear how much he has to offer heading into the playoffs. The 27-year-old American missed time down the stretch while playing in the NBA Summer League for the Atlanta Hawks and only returned for Montreal’s final game of the season. Bowden made a positive impact in the contest, recording a team-high plus-16 mark, but he managed just four points on 1-for-7 shooting. Now, he’ll have to deal with a pair of tough River Lions defenders in Ahmad and Omari Moore, a Defensive Player of the Year candidate. Bowden could prove to be a true X-factor in this East final. Milestone watch Niagara’s Ahmad needs one three-pointer to reach 100 for his career, including playoffs Niagara’s Kimbal Mackenzie needs nine points to reach 500 for his career, including playoffs Niagara’s Nathan Cayo needs two steals to reach 50 for his career, including playoffs Montreal’s Devonte Bandoo needs seven assists to reach 100 for his career, including playoffs Montreal’s Guillaume Boucard needs two blocks to reach 50 for his career, including playoffs - CEBL - About the CEBL A league created by Canadians for Canadians with a mission to develop Canadian players, coaches, sports executives, and referees, the CEBL boasts the highest percentage of Canadian players of any pro league in the country with 75% of its rosters being Canadian and a record 10 players with NBA experience in 2024. Players also bring experience from the NBA G League, top international pro leagues, the Canadian National team program, NCAA programs, as well as U SPORTS and CCAA. Fourteen players have signed NBA contracts following a CEBL season, and numerous CEBL players attend NBA G League training camps every year. The CEBL season runs from May through August with games broadcast live on CEBL+ powered by BetVictor, TSN , TSN+ , RDS , Game+ , Next Level Sports & Entertainment and Courtside1891 . More information about the CEBL is available at CEBL.ca and @cebleague on Instagram , Twitter , TikTok , LinkedIn , Facebook & YouTube .oes here. To edit this text, click on it and delete this default text and start typing your own or paste your own from a different source.

It was the type of performance worthy of the two-time Clutch Player of the Year. Khalil Ahmad scored 13 straight points in Target Score Time as the Niagara River Lions came back to beat the Ottawa BlackJacks 94-91 in the East semifinal at the Meridian Centre on Sunday. The River Lions trailed by four points when the clock turned off — and Ahmad turned it on. The California native made a layup in the first play of Target Score Time. He hit a three the next time down. On the ensuing possession, Ahmad was fouled attempting a triple, and swished all three free throws. Then, a brief blip as he was called for a rare carrying violation, turning the ball over. But Ahmad was not fazed. He drained yet another three-pointer on the next play. Eventually, the River Lions found themselves leading 92-91, holding the ball and needing two points to win. Ahmad inbounded the ball to Omari Moore, who passed to TJ Lall above the arc. Meanwhile, Ahmad curled around and sprinted toward the net. Lall lobbed the ball into the air — and Ahmad ferociously threw down the alley-oop, sending his teammates and the crowd into a frenzy, and punching the River Lions’ ticket to Montreal for Championship Weekend. “I told TJ, throw it up and I’ll go get it. And my guy trusted me,” Ahmad said. “It was beautiful, picture-perfect.” Head coach Victor Raso said it’s a play the team has run multiple times throughout the season — but it’s usually completely shut down or wide open. On this occasion, the defence was somewhere in between. “TJ threw the ball where only Khalil could get it and Khalil made an incredibly athletic play.” Raso said he was still collecting his thoughts when he met with media after the game. “They literally pushed us to the limit. And if this game is not here with 4,000 people, I don’t know if it goes our way. And then we got really tough, we went small, our guys played hard as hell and Khalil Ahmad is a special talent. Like what he did down the stretch and in Target Score Time was incredible,” he said. For the Ottawa BlackJacks, it was a heartbreaking end to a game that was trending toward asserting their Cinderella season status. Ottawa began the campaign 1-5 and earned the final playoff spot in the weaker Eastern Conference despite a 9-11 record, but a playoff upset over defending champion Scarborough on Friday had the BlackJacks thinking about Montreal. They even took the good vibes to Niagara and held a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter against the River Lions, who are undefeated at home. But the Ahmad flurry put a swift and emphatic end to the underdog story. “That Ottawa team is really good,” Raso said. “There are teams we’ve played against in this league who have more talented, more stacked rosters but I don’t know if we’ve played against a team who plays with that type of pace, that type of flow and those smarts and shooting ability on the offensive end. Like they caused us so many problems.” Ahmad was relatively quiet offensively for most of the game, managing just 10 points before Target Score Time. Defensively, though, he was active with six steals — one off the CEBL’s single-game playoff record. He also kept the River Lions’ offence flowing with eight assists. Guard Jahvon Blair contributed 22 points and six rebounds in the win, while Nathan Cayo added 17 points including a pair of three-pointers just before Target Score Time that cut Niagara’s deficit from 10 to four. “We stayed together the whole game. They went on runs and we stayed together, took care of what we needed to take care of and we got the win. So I’m just proud of our guys, how we stayed resilient,” Ahmad said. Ottawa was paced by Shamar Givance, who scored 19 points off the bench, while Deng Adel finished the game two points shy of a triple-double with eight points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists. Isaih Moore, Tevin Brown and Keevan Veinot all scored in double-digits as well. The River Lions got off to a fast start as Blair scored a layup almost directly off the opening tip, and consecutive fast breaks led to an early 6-0 edge, which Niagara parlayed into a 28-19 advantage after 10 minutes. But the feisty BlackJacks would not go away, and eventually took their first lead of the game in the final minute of the half. A late three-pointer by Blair, though, meant the River Lions carried a 49-48 lead into halftime. Yet Ottawa kept coming in the third quarter as Givance caught fire. The BlackJacks led 77-67 entering the final frame. The River Lions responded with a quick 5-0 run to start the quarter, but the BlackJacks rebuilt their 10-point lead until Cayo’s clutch triples ahead of Target Score Time. And that’s when Ahmad called curtains. Now, he’s headed back to his third consecutive Championship Weekend with the River Lions. “It means a lot. Championship Weekend is a big deal obviously. We finished how we wanted to finish at home and now we just gotta take care of business there,” Ahmad said. “This is gonna be the third time and hopefully third time’s the charm.” - CEBL - About the CEBL A league created by Canadians for Canadians with a mission to develop Canadian players, coaches, sports executives, and referees, the CEBL boasts the highest percentage of Canadian players of any pro league in the country with 75% of its rosters being Canadian and a record 10 players with NBA experience in 2024. Players also bring experience from the NBA G League, top international pro leagues, the Canadian National team program, NCAA programs, as well as U SPORTS and CCAA. Fourteen players have signed NBA contracts following a CEBL season, and numerous CEBL players attend NBA G League training camps every year. The CEBL season runs from May through August with games broadcast live on CEBL+ powered by BetVictor, TSN , TSN+ , RDS , Game+ , Next Level Sports & Entertainment and Courtside1891 . More information about the CEBL is available at CEBL.ca and @cebleague on Instagram , Twitter , TikTok , LinkedIn , Facebook & YouTube .

For weeks now, it’s seemed a foregone conclusion that the Niagara River Lions would host the Eastern Conference Semifinal. That they’d be facing the Ottawa BlackJacks in that game was unexpected. Yet here we are. The River Lions and BlackJacks will square off on Sunday at 5:30 p.m. ET at Meridian Centre with a ticket to Montreal for Championship Weekend on the line. Broadcast coverage of the game is available on TSN and Next Level Sports & Entertainment, while you can live stream the contest on CEBL+, TSN+ and Courtside 1891. After a 4-3 start to the season, Niagara cemented itself as the best team in the East, winning all 10 of its home games en route to a 14-6 record. Meanwhile, Ottawa scuffled out of the gates with a 1-5 start but turned things around in the second half as reinforcements arrived. Eventually, Ottawa edged out Brampton for the conference’s final playoff spot. The final two games of the River Lions’ season were a split against the BlackJacks. Though they held no significance in the standings, they still served as a solid measuring stick. And it turns out the teams are fairly even. Ottawa took the first game in a high-scoring 122-113 affair, while Niagara won the second, 109-97. Sunday will mark the first CEBL playoff game in River Lions history in front of their home crowd. The postseason mainstays have competed in seven playoff games since the league’s inception in 2019, including five at a Championship Weekend neutral site, one road game in Guelph and a 2020 Summer Serries game at Meridian Centre with no fans. “We need to be fearless going down the stretch here, knowing that everybody's talking about us being 10-0 at home, always having great regular seasons and not having won a championship. So we need to earn the confidence to play fearless, aggressive basketball,” River Lions head coach Victor Raso said. Meanwhile, Ottawa may feel like it’s playing with house money after stunning defending champion Scarborough on the road on Friday. The BlackJacks showed a relentless offensive rim attack in that victory, led by Isaih Moore’s 22-point, 10-rebound double-double. But Ottawa’s basis for success is its defence, led at the point of attack by Defensive Player of the Year candidate Lloyd Pandi. “Even though I’m up for the award it’s really a testament of our team,” Pandi said after the game. Every playoff game in the CEBL is full of pressure. But in this case, it appears to mainly lie on the side of the River Lions while a freed-up BlackJacks squad looks to continue its Cinderella run in Montreal. Neither team has ever won a CEBL Championship. Only one will get the chance to change that. Key matchup One of Niagara’s best players is two-time Clutch Player of the Year Khalil Ahmad. But while Ahmad, the all-time leader in Target Score Winners, has consistently come up big in the regular season, his teams have fallen short in the playoffs in each of the past two years. Now, he’ll have Pandi in his way as he attempts to lift at least some of the monkey off his shoulder. Ahmad averaged 19 points and 5.5 assists during the regular season, but also turned the ball over more than three times per game. Pandi, meanwhile, set the CEBL’s single-season steals record. His 44 swipes were 14 more than the second-place player and equivalent to the gap between second and 16th. If Niagara gets into its offence, it could be tough to beat. But Ottawa can also slow the game to a grind. The battle between Ahmad and Pandi could decide the pace — and, ultimately, the result. Milestone watch Ottawa’s Deng Adel needs one assist to reach 200 for his career, including playoffs Ottawa’s Pandi needs four steals to reach 100 for his career, including playoffs Niagara’s Kimbal Mackenzie needs nine points to reach 500 for his career, including playoffs Niagara’s Nathan Cayo needs two steals to reach 50 for his career, including playoffs Niagara’s Ahmad needs four three-pointer to reach 100 for his career, including playoffs - CEBL - About the CEBL A league created by Canadians for Canadians with a mission to develop Canadian players, coaches, sports executives, and referees, the CEBL boasts the highest percentage of Canadian players of any pro league in the country with 75% of its rosters being Canadian and a record 10 players with NBA experience in 2024. Players also bring experience from the NBA G League, top international pro leagues, the Canadian National team program, NCAA programs, as well as U SPORTS and CCAA. Fourteen players have signed NBA contracts following a CEBL season, and numerous CEBL players attend NBA G League training camps every year. The CEBL season runs from May through August with games broadcast live on CEBL+ powered by BetVictor, TSN , TSN+ , RDS , Game+ , Next Level Sports & Entertainment and Courtside1891 . More information about the CEBL is available at CEBL.ca and @cebleague on Instagram , Twitter , TikTok , LinkedIn , Facebook & YouTube .