River Lions capture second straight CEBL championship in win over Surge

The mountain had only been scaled once before.

But after the most grueling season in CEBL history, the Niagara River Lions reached the summit once again.

The River Lions captured the 2025 CEBL title on Sunday, beating the Calgary Surge 79-73 at Winnipeg’s Canada Life Centre.

Niagara joins the 2020-2021 Edmonton Stingers as the only teams ever to go back-to-back. They are also the only franchises in league history to claim multiple titles.

“It feels incredible. It really does,” head coach Victor Raso said. “It’s as special of a moment as I ever had as a coach. This one, for these guys, it just cemented them. I’m really happy for them.”

Khalil Ahmad was named Finals MVP after scoring 16 points, including the game-winner, while adding nine rebounds.

When the clocks stopped for Target Score Time, a River Lions lead that was once 16 had been cut to three points at 70-67.

Clutch as ever, Khalil Ahmad opened the proceedings with a three-pointer. After Sean Miller-Moore made a free throw at the other end, Elijah Lufile deposited a putback to move Niagara within four points of the win.

Calgary then went to the line on two straight possessions around an Ahmad miss, but made just two of four attempts. Niagara moved within any bucket of the title when Nathan Cayo cashed a pair from the charity stripe himself.

On the following play, Evan Gilyard II breathed some life into the Surge with a three-pointer. It turned out to be their last gasp.

While the Surge earned a defensive stop, a turnover sent Ahmad streaking back the other way, where he drew a foul in the corner that sent him to the line.

Attempt No. 1: splash. Attempt No. 2: ballgame. Champions.

“Redemption,” said Ahmad, who missed a free throw in the same situation in last year’s Final. “I thought about exactly that, [when] I made the first one, missed the second. I was like, ‘Oof, I can’t do that again.’”

The clutch free throws pushed Ahmad to his second straight Finals MVP and marked his fifth straight playoff game scoring the Target Score Time winner. He knocked down the game-winning three in Friday’s East Final against the Scarborough Shooting Stars, too.

After the game, Raso had high praise for his star player, who will need to make room on his trophy case next to a number of other accolades.

“He’s the greatest player to ever play in this league and he’s just a phenomenal person, so he won’t say all the things that I say, but that’s the truth,” Raso said.

Captain Kimbal Mackenzie echoed Raso’s sentiment.

“[It’s] getting a little bit ridiculous at this point, quite frankly,” Mackenzie joked. “When he hit that shot against Scarborough, I was like, ‘How many times is this guy gonna do this?’ He just has a knack for when those moments get big, just playing off his instincts.”

The game itself proved to be a defensive grind — the lowest-scoring final in league history. No player on either team reached 20 points, and the clubs combined to make just 27.5 per cent of their three-point shots while neither reached 40 per cent overall from the field.

For the River Lions, it came down to simple effort in their own end.

“These guys cared a lot. There was no in-between moments that we lost. These guys were thoughtful on every defensive possession and we just kinda forced them to play to their weaknesses instead of playing to their strengths,” Raso said.

Nathan Cayo was second on the River Lions with 14 points, while Ahmed Hill added 13 points and six rebounds off the bench while posting a team-high plus-16 rating.

Meanwhile, the star Surge guard duo of Jameer Nelson Jr. and Gilyard II struggled mightily, combining for 16 points on just seven-for-32 shooting.

“We didn’t make enough plays, but we’re a team. I’ve said it all year long,” head coach Kaleb Canales said.

Canada’s Sean Miller-Moore led the way for the Surge with 19 points, while Greg Brown broke a pair of championship record with 17 rebounds and five blocks.

Miller-Moore, the league’s all-time leading Canadian scorer, came up just short at his third Championship Weekend.

“Every loss is a heartbreak. Even when we lose in the regular season, it’s a heartbreak. So of course this was the last game and the last time I’m gonna be with this particular group, so it hurt more, but we were a good team all season and we just came up short today,” Miller-Moore said.

For Niagara, By Raso’s own admission, this season — the longest in CEBL history, with 24 games per team — was more difficult than last, as a roster featuring multiple returning players struggled at times to find motivation during the summer-long grind.

Around mid-season, however, the River Lions ripped off a seven-game winning streak to clinch the Eastern Conference. And the team found its motivation.

“I read a lot about teams who repeated and it all rang true,” Raso said. “It’s not gonna be like the first time. It’s gonna be hard. There’s gonna be ups and downs. You’re gonna have to find a new why. You have to shed last year.”

For some, that “why” was obvious. Ahmed Hill has scored more points than anyone in league history but was still searching for his first championship. Guillaume Boucard was a River Lion two years ago, but missed last year’s title run, and sought his first title, too.

Hill and Boucard were both part of the Montreal Alliance squad that fell to the River Lions in the semifinals last season.

“It’s amazing,” said Hill, who added that it’s his first title at any level. “I’ve always been a player to want to score and get all the accolades, but this is one thing I always missed.”

Added Boucard: “It doesn’t even feel real right now. It’s just full circle. … It’s been something that I’ve been chasing for a long time. It’s something that we always want every summer in Niagara.”

Elijah Lufile wanted to win for himself to become the first player to ever three-peat; he also wanted to win for brother Meshack, a teammate who had never won before.

“That’s something we can tell our kids,” Lufile said. “We just stayed true to ourselves and our identity is guys giving 100 per cent effort.”

Captain Kimbal Mackenzie was a leader on last year’s team, but didn’t play much. This year, he was a relied-upon starter.

And for all his league accolades, Khalil Ahmad still felt like he didn’t get the love he deserved.

“I mean, sheesh. Can’t put any words on it,” Ahmad said.

Raso said all the parts came together to make a roster that was underrated by some throughout the season. Now, they’re champions.

“It took a while for this team to gel and find their rhythm. We have Ahmed Hill coming off the bench. He’s the leading scorer in CEBL history. That’s what bothers me when people talk about us this year the way they did,” Raso said. “This was a really, really good basketball team and when it mattered, we were awesome.”

In the early going, Calgary made its presence known, racing to an 11-3 lead that was punctuated by a monstrous alley-oop jam from Brown III.

But last year’s winners showed their championship mettle immediately, responding with a 13-0 run of their own to go in front. They never relinquished that lead.

Through one quarter, Niagara led 21-20.  Then, it turned the defence up a notch en route to a 42-36 halftime advantage as Calgary made just three of 19 three-point attempts.

But momentum followed Calgary into the locker room after Nelson Jr. drained a halfcourt buzzer-beater.

Still, the River Lions weren’t fazed, opening the third frame with an Ahmad three and stretching their lead to 16 after back-to-back Hill triples. Niagara took a 63-51 lead into the final quarter of the season before it ultimately prevailed.

Basketball royalty was among the 7,129 total attendance for the Final, as longtime Canadian coach Steve Konchalski and Nick Elam, who created Target Score endings, both witnessed the championship game.

Meanwhile, the parents of Chad Posthumus — a CEBL lifer and Winnipeg native who tragically died in November at age 33 — were on hand to present the championship trophy.

Now, for the second straight year, that trophy will make a home in St. Catharines, Ont.

“We fought through so much adversity,” Ahmad said. “We deserved this win.”