The Newfoundland Growlers head to Guelph for the first time in franchise history to take on the Nighthawks at 7 p.m. ET on Tuesday.

The Growlers are 0-5 still looking for their first ever win. They were one possession away in St. Catharines but fell short, 98-97 to the River Lions. In that game, Brandon Sampson scored 26 points and Javohn Blair 24 points, two consistent strong pieces for the Growlers. Despite cutting the deficit to six points from 12, during the fourth quarter, the Growlers were unable to fully come back going into Elam time and it resulted in a 80-68 loss to the Hamilton Honey Badgers. In the loss, Newfoundland matched the Honey Badgers efforts on the offensive glass and got double-tsheedigit scoring from three starters.

Shaquille Keith scored 21 points on 46 per cent shooting and added six rebounds and five assists. Also at the guard spot, Newfoundland found a late surge from Brandon Sampson with 14 points on 54 per cent shooting. Sampson, who holds the CEBL record for points in a single game with 42, will pair with Keith and Blair and go against the attacking guards of the Nighthawks in Cat Barber, Ahmed Hill and A.J. Lawson.

The Nighthawks enter this matchup off two straight wins, both at home, and at an even 3-3 record. In their tight 86-84 win over Montreal, Hill and Barber exchanged the role of primary scorer, with Barber icing the game in Elam time to prevent the Alliance from completing a comeback win. Hill scored 28 points in that matchup against a Montreal guard core of Hernst Laroche, Alain Louis, Sherwood Brown and Isiah Osborne. His backcourt duo in Barber contributed massively to the Nighthawks 86-79 win over Ottawa the game before, scoring 26 points to lead the game.

Barber and Hill share the weight of facilitating the offence, and against efficient scorers in Sampson and Keith of Newfoundland, the execution will be important to get the scorers the shots they want. While the guards create opportunities, the battle between Tj Lall, Julian Roche for Guelph and Newfoundland’s Meshack Lufile and Kahlil Whitney for the second chances will create opportunities for the offence to flow inside the paint.

Newfoundland started four guards against Hamilton and now going against Guelph who did the same against Montreal, the forwards facilitating and perimeter shooting should take centre stage as it did with Tj Lall making a pair of threes against Montreal.

Both teams have a trio of players who contribute largely to their success, in Guelph its Lawson, Hill and Barber, and in Newfoundland it’s Sampson, Keith and Blair. Newfoundland will be 1-5 or Guelph 4-3 after this Tuesday night matchup.

All games will be streamed live internationally on the CEBL’s OTT platform, CEBL+ , and on the CEBL Mobile app for iOS and Android devices. Games will also be available to stream live in Canada via cbcsports.ca , the CBC Sports app for iOS and Android devices, and the free CBC Gem streaming service.

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 .