The Ottawa BlackJacks snapped a four-game losing streak with an 104-95 victory over the Hamilton Honey Badgers.

The BlackJacks are now 6-12 while the Honey Badgers (13-5) drop their second straight game. The BlackJacks were playing without point guard Walt Lemon Jr as Johnny Berhanemeskel started instead.

Both teams were firing from deep early on. Thomas Scrubb hit a turnaround jumper to put Ottawa on top before Caleb Agada and Nikola Djogo responded with three-pointers. Ottawa’s Kadre Gray then sank back-to-back triples.

The home team then focused on attacking inside as Deng Adel scored in the midrange and found Zena Edosomwan for a layup. Chad Posthumus scored twice at the rim while Bernard Thompson scored off a steal as the BlackJacks led 27-19 after one quarter.

Hamilton’s Jeremiah Tilmon Jr. nailed a three early in the second quarter but the BlackJacks kept getting rebounds and scoring. Adel drew fouls in the paint and hit free throws to help Ottawa lead by double digits. He then stole the ball and scored off the fast break.

The BlackJacks got into the bonus midway through the second quarter as they continued to hit free throws. Berhanemeskel drilled a three to extend the lead to 50-32. They led 56-42 at halftime after Honey Badgers guard Christian Vital hit a three.

Berhanemsekel picked up where he left off in the first half with two consecutive threes early in the third quarter. The teams traded baskets as Posthumus scored down low. Ottawa went into the fourth quarter up 81-63.

Tilmon Jr. scored four straight points for Hamilton by establishing post position. The BlackJacks responded with consistent scoring inside and outside as Jackson Rowe flushed down a dunk.

Both teams made multiple trips to the free throw line as Djogo scored five straight points to cut the deficit to 95-81 heading into Elam time.

Adel scored off two drives to the basket to move the BlackJacks closer to victory. However, Hamilton made a late run with an Agada three-pointer and Tilmon Jr. put back to cut the lead to seven.

Ottawa would close out the victory thanks to their offensive rebounding and game-winning free throws by Adel.

Adel finished with 23 points and 10 rebounds while Berhanemeskel had 22 points and four assists. Gray had 16 points while Rowe had 11 points and Thompson had 10.

The BlackJacks shot 49 per cent from the field and 40 per cent from three. They had 47 rebounds to Hamilton’s 39 and outscored the Honey Badgers 42-34 in the paint.

“To be honest, we didn’t do our best on Tuesday when we played [Fraser Valley] so to see everyone respond like this and dig in a little bit, continue to put your head down and I feel like everybody responded the right way,” Berhanemeskel noted. “So now it’s trying to keep building off it.”

Hamilton outscored Ottawa 32-23 in the fourth quarter and Elam time but were outscored in the other three quarters. They were led by Djogo (19 points, eight rebounds, four steals), Tilmon Jr. (16 points, five rebounds) and Vital (15 points, six rebounds, six assists).

“Credit to [Ottawa]. They played exceptionally well,” Hamilton head coach Ryan Schmidt noted. “To me, they’re one of the top two if not three [most] talented teams in the league.”

Schmidt said he told his team it’s one of the Honey Badgers’ best offensive performances of the year. “Defensively, we couldn’t stop them from transition, even on our made baskets,” he added.

The Honey Badgers are now only a half-game up on the Niagara River Lions for the top seed. Meanwhile, Ottawa moves within two games of the Guelph Nighthawks for seventh place.

The Honey Badgers travel to face the Niagara River Lions on July 29, the first of two straight games against Niagara. The BlackJacks go to face the Edmonton Stingers on July 27.

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