Khalil Ahmad’s contested layup in target time Sunday night in Montreal gave the Niagara River Lions a 97-95 win over the Vancouver Bandits and netted the franchise its first-ever Canadian Elite Basketball League championship.

“I’ve been thinking about that moment for so long and it was just an incredible feeling,” River Lions head coach/GM Victor Raso said. “It was years of hard work and it’s validation for the organization. We have been the best organization in the CEBL but you can’t really say that out loud if you don’t win a championship. Now we are the most winningest organization in the CEBL, we have a championship and our players want to be on our team all the time. I am so happy for our president Jeffrey Sotiriou and Michelle Biskup, our VP. They have been working tirelessly with no validation and this is the coolest thing. I am so proud of the group.”

Niagara went from overcoming a poor shooting performance in a semifinal win over Montreal to playing great against a formidable Bandits squad.

“We were much better today. We shot the ball much better but we got in serious foul trouble. And we did all of this without Jahvon Blair (who was ordered by his French team to report). He is a CEBL all-star who averages 18 a game and he has been nothing but excellent for us,” Raso said. “We did it without him and I am so happy.”

Niagara was leading by 10 heading into target time and Raso was understandably nervous as both of the River Lions big men, Louden Love and Elijah Lufile, fouled out and the lead disappeared down to nothing.

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