Stingers fall 100-91 To BlackJacks In Home Game Finale

The Ottawa BlackJacks travelled to Edmonton and came away with a 100-91 win over the Edmonton Stingers. The BlackJacks are now 7-12 with the Stingers 10-9.

The Stingers opened the game on a 9-3 run and established their offence inside the paint. They used their ball movement to find lanes in to Jordan Baker and Brody Clarke who finished at the rim. Following the run, Ottawa answered back with a run of their own that pushed them out to a lead at the quarter break. Defensive rebounds became increasingly important for both sides as Clarke, Baker, Zena Edosomwan and Deng Adel worked their magic around the rim. After a quarter of basketball, Ottawa led the Stingers 30-26.

Ottawa continued to pound the paint in the second quarter, and the Stingers extended to the perimeter with threes from Aher Uguak. A back and forth start to the quarter was opened up by a Tyrrel Tate layup and a Jackson Rowe dunk and free throw to start the BlackJacks run that continued throughout the second. While Clarke and Uguak responded, the BlackJacks continued to find lanes to the rim and pushed their lead to double-digits, 52-38 before an Uguak three put the game back to single-digits. At halftime, Ottawa led 54-45.

Ottawa kept the Stingers away throughout the third quarter.Despite Burrell scoring early for the Stingers in the third, Adel and Posthumus used their size in the paint to finish at the rim. Ottawa went up 60-51, Edmonton pushed the deficit back to five points and Ottawa extended it back out to 68-59 BlackJacks. Edmonton chained together stops at the end of the quarter and capitalized in transition with a three and a layup. At the end of the third, Ottawa led 81-74.

Adel’s performance gave him 23 points at the end of the third with Uguak scoring 15, Burrell leading the Stingers with 17 points.

Edmonton wanted to get out in transition off defensive rebounds and steals. Though it worked in the first three quarters, they were able to match it with more defensive stops in the fourth, and chain together a run to push back on the BlackJacks lead. Ottawa with a nine-point lead early in the fourth got pushed back by Uguak and Woods making the BlackJacks lead three points, 89-86. Chad Posthumus got to the free throw line as the Elam buzzer sounded and gave the BlackJacks one more. The score 90-86 Ottawa with the target score 99.

Jackson Rowe started Elam time inside the paint to make it 92-86 BlackJacks and Adel got to the rim to put the BlackJacks five points away from victory. Uguak answered with a long corner two and Rowe got to the free throw line to continue the back-and-forth Elam time. A Kamba three put the Stingers at 91 points and Rowe put the BlackJacks at 97, two away from a win. Tate from the perimeter gave the BlackJacks the 100-91 win.

Adel finished with 30 points on the night, 63 per cent shooting, to go with eight rebounds, four assists and a pair of steals. Next on the scoreboard was Tate who hit the game winner to give him 19 points, two rebounds and four assists. Rowe scored 13 points while Gray finished with 12 points, nine rebounds and seven assists.

Leading the scoring for the Stingers was Uguak who recorded 21 points on 66 per cent shooting. Burrell scored 17 points, grabbed eight rebounds, assisted on six and recorded two steals and a block. Kamba scored 15 points while Baker added 10 points.

Adel talked about his rhythm offensively tonight, “I think it came pretty naturally, I did a good job of attacking the basket today and not settling for jump shots, and then with Walt (Lemon Jr) not travelling with us and being out I got to be more aggressive, not just to score but to make plays for my teammates.”

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.