River Lions beat BlackJacks in playoff thriller as Khalil Ahmad erupts in Target Score Time
It was the type of performance worthy of the two-time Clutch Player of the Year.
Khalil Ahmad scored 13 straight points in Target Score Time as the Niagara River Lions came back to beat the Ottawa BlackJacks 94-91 in the East semifinal at the Meridian Centre on Sunday.
The River Lions trailed by four points when the clock turned off — and Ahmad turned it on.
The California native made a layup in the first play of Target Score Time. He hit a three the next time down. On the ensuing possession, Ahmad was fouled attempting a triple, and swished all three free throws.
Then, a brief blip as he was called for a rare carrying violation, turning the ball over.
But Ahmad was not fazed. He drained yet another three-pointer on the next play.
Eventually, the River Lions found themselves leading 92-91, holding the ball and needing two points to win.
Ahmad inbounded the ball to Omari Moore, who passed to TJ Lall above the arc. Meanwhile, Ahmad curled around and sprinted toward the net.
Lall lobbed the ball into the air — and Ahmad ferociously threw down the alley-oop, sending his teammates and the crowd into a frenzy, and punching the River Lions’ ticket to Montreal for Championship Weekend.
“I told TJ, throw it up and I’ll go get it. And my guy trusted me,” Ahmad said. “It was beautiful, picture-perfect.”
Head coach Victor Raso said it’s a play the team has run multiple times throughout the season — but it’s usually completely shut down or wide open. On this occasion, the defence was somewhere in between.
“TJ threw the ball where only Khalil could get it and Khalil made an incredibly athletic play.”
Raso said he was still collecting his thoughts when he met with media after the game.
“They literally pushed us to the limit. And if this game is not here with 4,000 people, I don’t know if it goes our way. And then we got really tough, we went small, our guys played hard as hell and Khalil Ahmad is a special talent. Like what he did down the stretch and in Target Score Time was incredible,” he said.
For the Ottawa BlackJacks, it was a heartbreaking end to a game that was trending toward asserting their Cinderella season status.
Ottawa began the campaign 1-5 and earned the final playoff spot in the weaker Eastern Conference despite a 9-11 record, but a playoff upset over defending champion Scarborough on Friday had the BlackJacks thinking about Montreal.
They even took the good vibes to Niagara and held a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter against the River Lions, who are undefeated at home.
But the Ahmad flurry put a swift and emphatic end to the underdog story.
“That Ottawa team is really good,” Raso said. “There are teams we’ve played against in this league who have more talented, more stacked rosters but I don’t know if we’ve played against a team who plays with that type of pace, that type of flow and those smarts and shooting ability on the offensive end. Like they caused us so many problems.”
Ahmad was relatively quiet offensively for most of the game, managing just 10 points before Target Score Time.
Defensively, though, he was active with six steals — one off the CEBL’s single-game playoff record. He also kept the River Lions’ offence flowing with eight assists.
Guard Jahvon Blair contributed 22 points and six rebounds in the win, while Nathan Cayo added 17 points including a pair of three-pointers just before Target Score Time that cut Niagara’s deficit from 10 to four.
“We stayed together the whole game. They went on runs and we stayed together, took care of what we needed to take care of and we got the win. So I’m just proud of our guys, how we stayed resilient,” Ahmad said.
Ottawa was paced by Shamar Givance, who scored 19 points off the bench, while Deng Adel finished the game two points shy of a triple-double with eight points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists.
Isaih Moore, Tevin Brown and Keevan Veinot all scored in double-digits as well.
The River Lions got off to a fast start as Blair scored a layup almost directly off the opening tip, and consecutive fast breaks led to an early 6-0 edge, which Niagara parlayed into a 28-19 advantage after 10 minutes.
But the feisty BlackJacks would not go away, and eventually took their first lead of the game in the final minute of the half. A late three-pointer by Blair, though, meant the River Lions carried a 49-48 lead into halftime.
Yet Ottawa kept coming in the third quarter as Givance caught fire. The BlackJacks led 77-67 entering the final frame.
The River Lions responded with a quick 5-0 run to start the quarter, but the BlackJacks rebuilt their 10-point lead until Cayo’s clutch triples ahead of Target Score Time.
And that’s when Ahmad called curtains.
Now, he’s headed back to his third consecutive Championship Weekend with the River Lions.
“It means a lot. Championship Weekend is a big deal obviously. We finished how we wanted to finish at home and now we just gotta take care of business there,” Ahmad said. “This is gonna be the third time and hopefully third time’s the charm.”
- CEBL -
About the CEBL
A league created by Canadians for Canadians with a mission to develop Canadian players, coaches, sports executives, and referees, the CEBL boasts the highest percentage of Canadian players of any pro league in the country with 75% of its rosters being Canadian and a record 10 players with NBA experience in 2024. Players also bring experience from the NBA G League, top international pro leagues, the Canadian National team program, NCAA programs, as well as U SPORTS and CCAA. Fourteen players have signed NBA contracts following a CEBL season, and numerous CEBL players attend NBA G League training camps every year. The CEBL season runs from May through August with games broadcast live on CEBL+ powered by BetVictor, TSN, TSN+, RDS, Game+, Next Level Sports & Entertainment and Courtside1891. More information about the CEBL is available at CEBL.ca and @cebleague on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, LinkedIn, Facebook & YouTube.