The Newfoundland Growlers fought to live another day defeating the Montréal Alliance 94-71. Newfoundland keeps themselves in playoff contention and ties the Alliance record at 4-12. With the Growlers win, the Saskatchewan Rattlers have clinched a playoff berth.

The Growlers want to get out and run and the Alliance tried to limit that in the first quarter. With Montréal wanting to find shots early in the shot clock, they opted for two to three passes and a jumper, which fell at a 42 per cent clip in the first quarter. Newfoundland shot 47 per cent off of threes from Blake Francis and Jahvon Blair and they shot 5-10 from the perimeter matching the Alliance’ 50 three-point percentage. At the end of the first quarter, Newfoundland led 26-20.

Newfoundland went into a zone defence with just over a minute left in the first quarter, challenging the Alliance to make shots from the perimeter, and it paid off for the Growlers. Newfoundland used their size advantage to feed Meshack Lufile and create space for Junior Cadougan and Blake Francis at the rim, and they slowly extended their lead. Montreal didn’t make a three in the second quarter and against the three players inside because of the Newfoundland zone, they struggled to finish at the rim. Most of their chances came at the free throw line for players like Mambi Diawara making his Alliance debut. At halftime, Newfoundland extended their lead to 47-34.

Newfoundland continued the zone defence in the third quarter. The Alliance found their way to the rim with their quick passes and baseline cuts. A series of opportunities for Nathan Cayo put the Alliance in it down eight points and it stayed at that margin throughout the third quarter. Rowell Graham-Bell hitting opportune threes and the Alliance guards responding with dishes to the rim kept the Newfoundland lead close to double-digits and Montréal was unable to chain together stops and buckets. Going into the fourth quarter, Newfoundland led 65-57.

Montréal started the fourth quarter with Jean-Marie at the rim but the Growlers went on a 6-0 run to take a 71-59 lead. A Cayo layup and Graham-Bell dunk followed up the run to make it 73-61 Newfoundland. Going into Elam time, the Growlers led 85-66, target score set at 94. Osse started Elam time at the free throw line and Louis followed up but a Kennedy layup and Francis three put the Growlers up 90-69 and four points away from victory. Thanks to four more free throws, two from Blair and two from Francis, the Growlers secured the win. Newfoundland won 94-71.

Francis led the Growlers with 20 points, two rebounds and five assists. On the boards, Brooks grabbed 13 rebounds to go with his 13 points on 54 per cent shooting. Blair scored 18 points on 50 per cent shooting and grabbed two rebounds while adding an assist and a steal.

Cayo scored 18 points on 66 per cent shooting, the biggest scorer for the Alliance, along with six rebounds and seven assists. Jean-Marie led the Alliance in rebounds with eight while Laroche had 10 points and Louis scoring 11 points.

Francis talked about what worked for the team in the win, “just playing together collectively as a unit, moving the ball around, and not letting anyone speed us up, playing our own game and I think that’s what we’ve been doing these past two games and we’re just looking to push forward and keep doing it.”

Newfoundland Head Coach Patrick Ewing Jr talked about what’s taken off for the team, “defence, I preached it to them ever since the first day of training camp, we’ll only be as good as our defence allows us to be. For the first 10 games we kept allowing teams to shoot 50 per cent, we weren’t getting stops, we weren’t sharing the ball offensively. For three of the last five games we’re getting stops, the zone has helped us a lot, the two-three zone that we’ve been playing, everyone’s touching the ball, four people are in double-figures.”

Fans will be able to live stream all games including the playoffs on the CEBL’s OTT streaming service CEBL+, the CEBL’s official app, CEBL Mobile for iOS and Android devices, cbcsports.ca , the free CBC Gem streaming service, the CBC Sports App for iOS and Android devices and on NXT Level Sports in the U.S. As part of its playoff coverage, CBC Sports will broadcast the quarterfinal games Sunday, August 7, semifinal games Friday, August 12, and the Championship game on Sunday, August 14. For the complete broadcast and streaming schedule, click here . All times are subject to change.

The CEBL’s fourth regular season began May 25 and ends August 1. A league created by Canadians for Canadians, the CEBL is the largest pro sports league in the country with 10 teams located in six provinces. It 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 .