River Lions Sign Power Forward Olu Ashaolu

Born in Lagos, Nigeria, and raised in Toronto, Ashaolu comes to the River Lions with an extensive resume of overseas experience having thrived in some of the top professional leagues across Spain, France, Japan, Korea, the Philippines, and Canada. Ashaolu had a career best season in 2017-18 with the NLEX Road Warriors of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) where he averaged 28 points and 14.3 rebounds during 37 minutes per game. 

During his time with the Bandits this past summer, Ashaolu averaged 8.6 points, 3.3 rebounds and 85.3 in free throw percentage. 

“Olu is a welcomed addition to our team, and in incoming player that our staff is very excited to have on our side this season,” said Head Coach and General Manager Victor Raso. “His combination of experience, intelligence and toughness will help bolster our front court, and he will add to the experienced group of Canadians that we have returning to our team this summer as we hunt for a CEBL Championship.”

Prior to Ashaolu’s professional career, he played for Canada’s Junior National Team at the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) Under 18 Americas Championships in 2006 where he helped Canada to a fourth-place finish averaging 13.2 points per game. 

Ashaolu attended Louisiana Tech University where over three seasons he averaged 10.1 points, 7.3 rebounds and 1.1 assists. In his 2010-11 season, prior to transferring to the University of Oregon, he recorded 16 double-doubles which ranked 19th in the entire NCAA, earning him all-Western Athletic Conference (WAC) Honourable Mention and a spot on the all-WAC Defensive Team. 

During his senior season with the Oregon Ducks, Ashaolu ranked fourth in the Pacific-12 Conference in field goal percentage with 56.5 percent. He led the team in both field goal percentage and offensive rebounds. 

“I’m looking forward to this upcoming season with Niagara” said Ashaolu. “I think Coach Vic is planting the seeds to enable the River Lions to be a team everyone would love to play for. I’m excited to see what the summer brings.”

The River Lions recently announced the schedule for the 2021 season set to tip off in June. The CEBL is preparing for its third season in 2021 following the success of the 2020 CEBL Summer Series hosted in St. Catharines, which saw a record 1.2 million viewers across Canada tune in to four days of live programming on CBC. 

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Michelle Biskup, Vice President, Operations