Lightning eliminate River Lions 106-99

The defending NBL Canada champions have made it to round two of the playoffs.

The London Lightning knocked off the Niagara River Lions 106-99 on Friday night in St. Catharines to clinch their best-of-five series in four games.

The Lightning got another monster game from Royce White, who led all starters with 24 points and 15 rebounds, recording his second consecutive double-double.

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Both Julian Boyd and Ryan Anderson had 16 points off the bench for London.

Mo Bolden chipped in seven points but was huge underneath the basket as he pulled down a game high of 19 rebounds.

Both teams struggled with shooting the basketball throughout the game. The Lightning went 43.2 per cent from the field. The River Lions managed to hit just 37.9 per cent.

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Niagara had stayed alive, using a big second quarter on Tuesday night at the Meridian Centre. London returned the favour in game four, as they held the River Lions to just 19 points and outscored them by seven.

Guillaume Bouchard led Niagara offensively with 20 points in the game.

London now moves on to meet the St. John’s Edge in the next round. The Edge swept Windsor in three straight games in their opening series.

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The teams split six regular season meetings.

The dates and times of the best-of-seven have not been announced, but the Lightning will have the home court advantage.

In the Atlantic Division playoffs, after being surprised by the underdog Island Storm in game one, the Halifax Hurricanes bounced back with two straight wins and can wrap up their series on Saturday in Charlottetown.

The Moncton Magic survived an elimination game with the Saint John Riptide in game three. The Riptide lead two games to one with game four in Saint John on Saturday.