Montréal Alliance Hand Ottawa BlackJacks Their First Loss of the Season with 97-76 Win
Blake Francis’ game-high 24 points, seven assists, and three rebounds led the Montréal Alliance (2-0) to a 97-76 home win against the Ottawa BlackJacks (1-1) on Sunday afternoon.
Francis followed up his 30-point performance from Friday with another strong outing in this one, despite tweaking his ankle late in the first half. The injury didn’t seem to bother the guard much as he stayed in the game and ended the half with 16 points and a buzzer-beating three.
Other strong contributions for the Alliance included forward Nathan Cayo who put up 21 points (plus the game-winner), eight rebounds, and four assists on 72 per cent shooting. Guard Ahmed Hill added 22 points, knocking down five threes, and tallying four assists, while Treveon Graham recorded his second double-double of the season at 12 points and 10 rebounds.
“You go down the line and everyone has been a delightful surprise,” said Montréal head coach Derrick Alston Sr post-game. “So I’m very happy with those guys.”
The Ottawa backcourt duo of Michael Flowers and Kadre Gray were impressive once again despite the loss. Flowers put up 23 points, five rebounds, and three assists, while Gray scored 22 points, five assists, and four rebounds on 66 per cent shooting from the field.
Just like the BlackJacks last game, Flowers kept the team in the game with his production in the first half. He ended the half with a game-high 21 points, shooting 50 per cent from the field, while knocking down all seven of his free-throws. The guard’s scoring proved vital for Ottawa as it led a 12-4 run that cut down the Alliance lead to 51-46, after being down as much as 10 points with 3:05 remaining in the second.
Despite the efforts of Flowers, Montréal was simply the more efficient team on the night making the most of each possession and converting on the easy shots. All five of the Alliance’s starters had positive plus-minus totals on the night whereas every single player on the BlackJacks ended in the negatives.
Even with all other key statistical categories being practically tied, the two that cost Ottawa the game were three-point shooting and free-throws. The Alliance made eight more threes (+24) than the BlackJacks and shot 83 per cent (15-18) from the line compared to Ottawa’s 57 per cent (12-21).
The capper on this game was when Ahmed Hill turned the corner from the right baseline with 3:10 left in the third quarter and threw down an emphatic slam plus a foul which gave the Alliance a 72-60 lead. Those were three of his eight points in the quarter, and Montréal never looked back as they outscored Ottawa by nine points the rest of the way.
“This year I wanted things to be different,” said Hill when addressing media post-game. “I just want to get all the way to a championship. Even though we won today I was telling the guys we got to be better if we want to continue to go all the way…I see what we can be as a team.”
Coming into the season the Alliance had the longest odds to make the CEBL finals (+900) yet here they are at 2-0 to start the season with convincing victories over two teams that were in the championship semi-finals a year ago.
The BlackJacks head back home to take on the Scarborough Shooting Stars (1-0) Tuesday night. The Alliance make the trip to the nation’s capital as well, where they’ll wait to take on Ottawa once more on Thursday June 1.
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