The Ottawa BlackJacks return home from a three-game road trip to face the Newfoundland Growlers at TD Place in Ottawa at 7:30 p.m. ET on Tuesday.
The BlackJacks enter Tuesday’s contest at 5-11 after losing all three games in their three-game west coast road trip. Ottawa tipped off their road trip with a 96-88 loss to the Edmonton Stingers, followed by a 92-90 loss to the Saskatchewan Rattlers and a 95-88 loss to the Fraser Valley Bandits on Sunday. The BlackJacks sit in eighth place in the Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL) standings with just four games remaining and a playoff spot clinched due to hosting Championship Weekend next month.
The Growlers enter the game at 2-12 in the basement of the CEBL after an 0-10 start to the season. Newfoundland has picked up some momentum in the last four games, going 2-2 and picking up two wins over Saskatchewan. The Growlers lost their only previous meeting with the BlackJacks 86-85 in a tight finish in St. John’s.
Newfoundland’s Brandon Sampson scored a league-record 42 points in the win over Ottawa earlier in the season, while Deng Adel and Walt Lemon Jr. each put up complete performances in a losing effort for the BlackJacks. Adel scored a team-high 20 points to go along with 8 rebounds and 6 assists while Lemon flirted with a triple double at 13 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assists.
Both teams will look different from their matchup early in the season, with the BlackJacks gaining some important pieces with the playoffs approaching.
“We’ll get some bodies back,” Ottawa head coach James Derouin said. “We’ll get Jackson [Rowe] back, Thomas [Scrubb] back, and Johnny [Berhanemeskel] back, so three of the top Canadians in the league—we’ll get our full team. I think a lot of teams in the league right now are waiting to have their full team. You suffer some tough losses while that happens.”
So far this season, the BlackJacks have been relying heavily on the dynamic duo of Walt Lemon Jr. and Deng Adel. Lemon Jr. is leading the team with 17.6 points per game this season, to go along with 5.9 assists per game and 1.4 steals per game. Adel is averaging 15.5 points per game, 5.3 rebounds per game and 4.7 assists per game on 47.9 per cent shooting. The returning Jackson Rowe is averaging just under double-figures in nine games played for Ottawa at 9.8 points per game.
The Growlers will see the return of Jahvon Blair and Khalil Whitney on Tuesday to complement their current lineup. Sampson enters the game averaging 20.8 points per game. Leading the team and placing second in the league in scoring behind Niagara’s Khalil Ahmad. Blake Francis is averaging 15.3 points per game in just three games played for Newfoundland while Shaquille Keith averages 15.1 in 11 games played. The Growlers have yet to be eliminated from playoff contention with just six games remaining heading into Tuesday’s matchup with Ottawa.
“[Newfoundland] is playing much better,” Derouin said. “We take the red eye tonight and then play on Tuesday, so it’s almost like a fourth game on a road trip essentially, so we’re adding some bodies and it’ll be interesting to see where we’re at mentally with the time change and the flights. That’ll be the story of the game—can we recover in time to play and find a rhythm with the new guys at the same time? That’s not a great recipe so we’ll see how it goes.”
The game will stream on CEBL+ live internationally and in Canada at cbcsports.ca, the CBC Sports app for iOS
and Android devices and the free CBC Gem streaming service. Games are also available on the CEBL’s official app, CEBL Mobile, available on iOS and Android devices.
Newfoundland Growlers tickets are available at https://am.ticketmaster.com/growlers/ while Ottawa BlackJacks tickets are available at https://www.theblackjacks.ca/tickets .
A league created by Canadians for Canadians, the CEBL has the highest percentage of Canadian players of any professional league in the country, with 71 percent of its current rosters being Canadians. Players bring experience from the NBA, NBA G League, top international leagues, the Canadian National team program, and top NCAA programs as well as U SPORTS. The only First Division Professional League Partner of Canada Basketball, the CEBL season runs from May through August. Head to CEBL.ca for more information or follow us (@cebleague) on Instagram , Twitter , TikTok , LinkedIn , Facebook & YouTube .