Game Preview - July 31: BlackJacks and River Lions Continue Exciting Season Series in St. Catharines
The Ottawa BlackJacks of the Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL) travel to St. Catharines tonight to take on the Niagara River Lions at 7 p.m. at Meridian Centre.
Tonight’s matchup is a battle between the top two seeds in the CEBL’s Eastern Conference: the River Lions sit at number one with a record of 14-5, and the BlackJacks are in second at 9-10. While the River Lions have clinched the number one spot, Ottawa has been battling to stay in that coveted second place position, which gives a team an automatic bye into the Conference semifinals.
In Ottawa’s most recent matchup, they snagged an important home win against the number three seed Scarborough Shooting Stars.
Niagara has been even hotter as of late, winning their last seven games–a tie for the third-longest streak in league history.
So while both teams are coming into this game with positive momentum, the River Lions are really on fire. They capped off their last win with a 23-point comeback against the Brampton Honey Badgers, winning 96-94.
The River Lions are no strangers to close games like that–especially against the BlackJacks, against whom they’ve had two matchups come down to the last possession this season.
In Ottawa’s first game of the year, Niagara took them down, 87-85. Just under a month later, Niagara beat Ottawa again, 90-89.
In addition to those games, these two teams also had a thriller ending during the 2024 CEBL Eastern Conference Semifinals–Niagara took a 94-91 win, going on to become CEBL champions.
With all of this recent evidence, two things become clear: it’s usually a close one when the BlackJacks and River Lions play, and the River Lions usually come out on top.
Because of all of these recent competitive moments between the two teams, the Ottawa vs. Niagara matchup has begun to be considered a rivalry.
“It’s a rivalry now, for sure,” said BlackJacks starting center Isaih Moore, “I can say that now.
”Despite agreeing with Moore’s claim, Ottawa Head Coach David DeAveiro has made sure that his team still respects their opponent. “They’re a quality opponent. Niagara never beats themselves. If you’re going to go there, you have to go win. They’re not going to beat themselves.
”That high praise from DeAveiro is well deserved by the River Lions–the reigning champions have dominated the Eastern Conference this season, only losing to same-conference opponents twice in 19 games played thus far.
They average the second-least turnovers per game in the league (13.5), too–it goes to show that they really don’t beat themselves.
Niagara is also a ridiculous 9-1 in games that have ended within five points. That poise down the stretch of games makes a massive difference in target time, where teams often allow the end-of-game pressure get to them and miss more shots.
Throughout this season, Ottawa has seen the other end of that stick, going 1-6 on the year in the same category.
They’ve really only been able to close out games in which they have a large lead going into target time. Before their last win against the Shooting Stars, their lowest margin of victory was a shockingly high 13.
So when they finally snagged a win in a close 100-93 game against the Shooting Stars, it gave the players some real confidence:
“Tonight gave us confidence that we can play in [target time] against a good team and come out successful,” DeAveiro said after the game, “we’ve been heartbroken so many times–to come out on top today, it really boosts our confidence and is really bringing the team together. It makes us believe that we can win these types of games."
The key to that close win was the team’s new style of play. During the first quarter, both Moore and fellow starter Shakur Daniel had to leave the game from an ejection and injury respectively. With those two players being some of the team’s poorer floor spacers, Ottawa was able to run a high-pace, high-shooting offense.
That offense led to 15 made threes, five higher than their season average. Those threes came from a ton of ball movement, which in turn led to 25 assists, again more than their season average of 21.8.
If the BlackJacks want to continue their success against Niagara, that ball movement and efficient shooting will be crucial.
Another key to Ottawa winning that game was the return of forward Zane Waterman. After missing three full games due to a head injury, the four-year CEBL veteran scored both his season-high and his CEBL career high of 36 points against Scarborough.
“I had a lot of energy because I was out for a while,” said Waterman after the win. If that energy continues into tonight’s matchup with the River Lions, the BlackJacks will be a scary offensive team.
On the other side of things, Niagara is a very well-balanced team scoring-wise. While their leading scorer in Khalil Ahmad averages a solid 20.9 points per contest, nobody else on the roster averaged more than 13. Instead, they play a team game, with eight active players on their roster averaging seven or more.
That offensive consistency all around the board means that Ottawa will have to bring their best defensive efforts tonight.
They currently hold the best defense in the league, allowing just 85.9 per game, but what usually slows their opponents down is a scheme built to stop one or two top players.
With so many strong scorers on Niagara, and Ottawa’s top individual defender in Daniel questionable, it will be interesting to see how the defensive identity shifts for the BlackJacks tonight.
So tune in on CEBL+ and TSN+ tonight at 7 p.m. to see the third installment of one of the league’s best rivalries. With the red-hot River Lions playing an all-around, mistake-proof offense, the BlackJacks will have to continue to thrive in close-game situations to leave St. Catharines with a win.
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