Men's Basketball | 4/11/2025 11:00:00 AM

York University Lions men's basketball player Liam Rietschin is taking his talents to la belle province.

The 6'11, 215-pound centre, who lead the nation this past season with 62 blocked shots, was taken in the second round, 20th overall by the Montreal Alliance on Thursday night in the 2025 CEBL Draft.

Rietschin, a psychology major and the 2024-25 Lions team MVP, turns pro after spending six years in the Lions program, playing four seasons, and taking on a leadership role this season on a young York team. He played in all 22 games for the first time in his career this past season, starting 21 of them. He averaged 14.1 points, 6.2 rebounds and 2.81 blocks per game in 28.5 minutes a night, all career highs. Over the last two years, the Toronto, Ont., native has played in 42 games, making 37 starts, to go along with one playoff game. He set a career high in points with 26 on Feb. 12 vs. TMU, and rebounds with 14 on Feb. 8 at the Bold, while putting up a career-best nine blocks in what is likely his final game as a Lion on Feb. 15 vs. Brock.

For his career, Rietschin has played 73 games as a Lion, starting 39. He's averaged 7.1 points and 3.9 rebounds a game over his four seasons, and shot 51.5% from the field (206-for-400) and 76.0% from the free throw line (92-for-121). The forceful big also added an element of perimeter shooting to his game this season, shooting 25.6% (11-for-47) from three-point range. He made his first career three in the Lions season opener on Oct. 25 vs. Laurier.

Rietschin becomes the fourth York player all time selected in the CEBL Draft, joining Somto Dimanochie (round two, pick 11 – 2022; round 1, pick 4, 2023), DeAndrae Pierre (round 2, pick 8 – 2021) and Prince Kamunga (round 2, pick 11 – 2020). All three previous picks were made by the Edmonton Stingers.