By Justine Jones
The Guelph Nighthawks (1-5) travel to Saskatchewan to take on the Rattlers (0-7) on July 16 at 8:00 p.m. ET/ 7:00p.m. local time at the SaskTel Centre.
Both teams are in search of a much needed win, and will look to build momentum heading into the second half of this 14-game season. Guelph earned its first victory of the year Monday night against the Ottawa BlackJacks, but dropped its next game in Fraser Valley on Wednesday.
The Rattlers are coming off a trio of losses to the CEBL Champion Edmonton Stingers , and will look to seal their first victory of the year against the Nighthawks, a team they have yet to matchup with so far this season.
Fans returned to the SaskTel Centre Monday night, and the Rattlers will look to draw from that crowd energy again tonight.
Secondary scoring
A common thread between both teams in tonight’s matchup is that their point production has been headed by their starters. The Nighthawks’ Cat Barber ranks in the top three in scoring, averaging 22.3 points per game, while his teammates Ahmed Hill and Justin Jackson have also been strong contributors to the team’s offence.
A bright spot for the Nighthawks is the team has received more secondary scoring in recent games as Barber has tallied game highs of seven assists against Fraser Valley and six helpers in the team’s win over Ottawa. Welcoming Kimbal Mackenzie back from injury has provided Guelph with a boost. Mackenzie registered 14 points against Fraser Valley on Wednesday night, and tallied 11 points in Guelph’s win over Ottawa earlier this week. Chad Brown has also been solid for the Nighthawks since joining the team July 9, averaging a double-double, 13.7 points and 11.7 rebounds per game through three appearances.
“Everyone knows Cat can score and sometimes when that happens people defer and we rely on him and become a little stagnant,” said head coach Charles Kissi post-game on Monday. “We had some possessions tonight where we said we don’t shoot the ball until everyone touches it, sometimes you just need everyone to get it and touch it and move, be apart of it.”
Saskatchewan has also received the bulk of its offence early on from the team’s starters. Mambi Diawara and Devonte Bandoo have been two solid scorers for the Rattlers, and Bandoo leads the team in points, assists, steals, and field goal percentage. The only major category he does not rank first in for Saskatchewan is rebounds (averaging 6.3 per game), where he sits second behind Travis Daniels.
An encouraging trend for the Rattlers is that in the team’s Monday night game against Edmonton , Saskatchewan had four players score in double digits. Nervens Demosthene had his best outing as a Rattler, notching 11 points while his teammate D’Andre Bernard has put together his highest scoring games in back-to-back contests. Bernard saw limited minutes early on this season but has averaged 13 points per game in the Rattlers’ two most recent contests.
Defense and driving
Tonight’s matchup will likely be dominated by defence as Saskatchewan and Guelph rank lowest in points per game this season. Additionally, both teams also generate the majority of their scoring chances from inside the three-point line, so driving into the lane and sinking mid-range jumpers will be another key to success tonight. The Nighthawks’ Chad Brown leads the CEBL averaging four blocks per game and will be asked to play a large role on defence against this Rattlers team that has found success when attacking the basket.
Consistency is key
Saskatchewan and Guelph are two teams that have displayed stretches of great basketball early on this season but have struggled to maintain this level of play for the entire game. Both rosters have loads of talent but some late game offensive lapses have kept these teams near the bottom of the standings so far this season. Consistency will be key for both teams tonight as they search for this win and look to climb the standings.
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