Tre’Darius McCallum did a little bit of everything for the Nighthawks, racking up 18 points on an efficient 8-of-13 (61 percent) shooting, while also collecting four steals and three rebounds. 

“I think we just embrace adversity. We are all here to win and we all want to win,” said Nighthawks guard Myles Charvis. “So as a collective group we just do the things that we’re supposed to on both ends of the court, and in the second half we just fought harder than we did in the first and came out with a win.”

Kris Joseph did everything he could to keep the Rattlers close, but his 18 points, two rebounds and two steals weren’t enough to make up for the fact that Guelph outscored Saskatchewan 32-14 in the paint, 41-22 in points off the bench, and 16-8 in fastbreak points.

The Rattlers starters were able to keep pace with the Nighthawks opening lineup, but ultimately secondary contributions proved crucial as timely buckets from Guelph’s reserves allowed the Nighthawks to have an answer for each counter from Saskatchewan.

“They did a good job in the first half of getting into the paint off dribble penetration and played a lot of draw-and-kick against us, which led to easy shots,” Rattlers head coach Chad Jacobson said. “In the second half I just thought they wanted it more than us. They competed and they took it to us. They deserved to win that game.”

Toward the end of the first half Corey Johnson scored back-to-back baskets, including a three-pointer, which stretched Guelph’s early lead to eight points. The lead would continue to grow in the second half after a steal and a buzzer-beating breakaway layup by McCallum sent the Nighthawks into the final quarter ahead by 11 points. That proved to be all Guelph would need as the Nighthawks walked away with a convincing win.

Saskatchewan (1-2) meets Edmonton (3-1) on Saturday for a 3:50 p.m. ET (1:50 MT) matchup that will be televised nationally on local CBC channels across Canada. The Nighthawks will also take on the Stingers in their next game on Monday at 7 p.m. ET (5 p.m. MT). 

All CEBL Summer Series games are available to watch on Twitch, CBCSports.ca and the CBC Gem App. A complete broadcast schedule can be found here.