The Guelph Nighthawks will attempt to stay hot in a matchup against the Ottawa BlackJacks after picking up three consecutive wins in the last week. The Nighthawks visit the nation’s capital for a rematch with the BlackJacks at 7:30 p.m. ET on Thursday at TD Place.
Guelph enters the game in 6th place in a crowd at 4-3 while Ottawa’s tough start leaves them at 1-4 in 9th place.
Last Thursday in Guelph, the Nighthawks defeated the BlackJacks 86-79 to kickstart their winning streak. Cat Barber’s 26 points and 5 assists led them to victory while Walt Lemon Jr. scored a team-high 19 for Ottawa.
After losing back to back games by 20 points or more, the Nighthawks picked up wins over Ottawa, Montréal and Newfoundland. Each of the three wins have come at home for the Nighthawks.
Meanwhile, the BlackJacks have had to sit in defeat for the past week. Despite losing four of their first five games, Ottawa has been competitive. Just one game they’ve played has been decided by more than 10 points.
The BlackJacks will look to Deng Adel for a bounce back performance at home. Adel scored just 2 points in last week’s loss to Guelph, but his elite scoring and polished game has been on display all season. Adel enters the contest averaging 19.2 points per game on 62.5 per cent shooting from the field and a league best 66 per cent from three. He’s also dishing out 5 assists per game and hauling in 6.2 rebounds per game.
The BlackJacks will also look to Chad Posthumus and Walt Lemon Jr. for contributions. Lemon is averaging 16.4 points per game while Posthumus is averaging 10.2 points per game and 8.8 rebounds per game.
Meanwhile, Guelph will look to the CEBL’s second leading scorer Cat Barber to carry the offensive load. Barber enters Thursday averaging 22.4 points per game and 4.9 assists per game. Ahmed Hill, AJ Lawson and TJ Lall also average double figures for the Nighthawks, averaging 18.1 points, 14.3 points and 11 points respectively. Lall is also a huge contributor on the defensive end, averaging 7.5 rebounds per game, 1.8 blocks per game and 1.3 steals per game.
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.
Guelph Nighthawks season tickets are available at https://www.thenighthawks.ca/tickets while Ottawa BlackJacks season 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 .