BlackJacks Ride First-Half Lead to Road Victory
Despite a slow start for the Ottawa Blackjacks, they went on a 21-2 run in the second quarter and never looked back, winning 88-73 against the Sea Bears on Saturday night.
Ottawa’s Deng Adel (team-high 20 points) hit key shots throughout the game. In the first quarter, he hit a triple to inch within three points, and in the second, he hit a pair of threes to give Ottawa a seven-point and 10-point lead, respectively. In the third, he had a huge block on Terry Roberts, which helped Ottawa maintain an eight-point lead, and he exploited a mismatch down low for two easy points.
Ottawa, however, relied on contributions from the rest of the team unlike Winnipeg’soverreliance on the one-two punch of Tevian Jones (game-high 32 points) and Jaylin Williams (16 points).
Ottawa shot 5-for-19 from downtown in the first half, but instantly hit two threes in the second half. Ottawa relied on big man Meshak Lufile when scoring deep inside the paint and Deng’s mid-range forced a timeout. In the fourth quarter, Christian Rohlehr’s dunk gave them a seven-point buffer, and Rohlehr had a huge impact off the bench today, pouring in 10 points down low.
“I thought our bench did a tremendous job today, stepping up and settling us down when things got a little chaotic,” said Ottawa’s head coach Dave DeAveiro. “We don’t get a win without our bench tonight.”
The Jaylin Williams-Tevin Jones one-two punch kept Ottawa on their toes throughout the game. Williams’ block on Deng in the third quarter fueled a transition lay-up to Jones, and Winnipeg inched within two points. In the fourth, Jones ripped down a defensive rebound, took the ball coast-to-coast, and regained possession of the ball on a baseline out of bounds play. That led to Solomon Young’s left corner triple that made it a two-point game.
8,374 fans came to Canada Life Centre tonight, hoping to see the Sea Bears get their second victory of the season. History repeated itself as Winnipeg has never led against Ottawa going into halftime, and for the first time, Winnipeg have lost three-straight home games.
But Winnipeg’s star Jones says he and his team remain unphased, keeping the vibes high in the locker room. “I think we’re doing a good job of that. I’m a winner personally and I think the rest of the guys are winners as well,” Jones said calmly. “We all wanna win.”
Canada Life Centre will host the Championship Weekend this year, and the spirited effort by Winnipeg gives fans lots to be hopeful for. Terry Roberts came alive in the third quarter despite issues with his hip, and Taylor complimented him on his tremendous effort throughout 34 minutes.
Box Score
https://www.cebl.ca/game?id=2600589
Up next for both teams
Winnipeg (1-4) will head to the CAA Centre on Friday, June 6 to play against the Brampton Honey Badgers (0-5). Ottawa will continue to travel further west to play the undefeated Vancouver Bandits (5-0) on Friday, June 6th at Langley Events Centre.
Next CEBL action
The Vancouver Bandits will host the Calgary Surge (4-1) tomorrow at Langley Events Centre. Vancouver has a perfect 5-0 record, and Calgary will be looking to be the first team to topple their undefeated record. For the full 2025 CEBL schedule and up-to-date results, please visit cebl.ca/games.
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