Game Preview - May 31: BlackJacks Look to Regain Momentum Against Sea Bears

The Ottawa BlackJacks are in Winnipeg tonight to play the fourth game of their Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL) against the Winnipeg Sea Bears at 8:30 p.m. ET.

The BlackJacks enter this matchup with a 1-2 record with the win coming from a dominant performance against the Brampton Honey Badgers, and the two losses from two thrilling but heartbreaking endings against the Niagara River Lions and the Scarborough Shooting Stars.

That loss to the Shooting Stars was the BlackJacks’ most recent game, going down on Tuesday morning. The trip to Scarborough was the beginning of a massive road trip for the team, as they play all of the CEBL’s West Coast teams over the next few weeks and won’t play at home back at TD Place until Sunday, June 15.

A long trip on the road is definitely not something the team would like to see in their schedule: last season, the BlackJacks finished with a record of just 3-7 in away games. Losing to Scarborough on Tuesday to bring their record under .500 hasn’t made the start of this season any better, either.

That loss to Scarborough was by one point, 86-87. The game winner in target score time for the Shooting Stars came from a ridiculous fadeaway mid-range jump shot from Yuri Collins–starting the road trip losing in that way is bound to be a major energy drainer for Ottawa.

BlackJacks Head Coach David DeAveiro noted that coming so close to a win hurt the team’s morale: “That Scarborough game was a tough game.”

But what goes down must come up, and DeAveiro believes that, too: “We’re going to keep getting better, and better, and better as we go along. New coach, new players, new teammates. Things don’t happen just like that.”

An important first step to improving the team’s success for DeAveiro is raising their urgency.

Both of Ottawa’s losses have come in tight target score endings: the one-point loss to Scarborough, and the loss to Niagara came on a blown 17-point deficit.

“We’ve been in two tight games that we lost in Elam,” said DeAveiro, “we didn’t have the urgency.”

That sense of urgency comes from playing with a purpose, and giving the game 100% effort through every minute–the team did a much better job of that in its preparation for this game against the Sea Bears.

“We were locked in today, and more focused than we have been,” said DeAveiro when asked about the team’s urgency after their last practice.

That practice included a ton of high-effort defensive reps with loud on-court communication between players, and frequent pauses in gameplay by DeAveiro to inspire the team.

Forward Meshack Lufile reciprocated DeAveiro’s emphasis on effort: “The coaches challenged us. They wanted us to be better.”

Lufile’s role on the team specifically will require extra effort, as the status of the team’s usual starting centre, Isaih Moore, is still unknown.

Moore went down in the team’s second game of the year against the Honey Badgers, and has been labelled day-to-day since. 

“Hopefully we can get him for next week, but he’s still day-to-day,” said DeAveiro, “we don’t know.”

Moore led the BlackJacks in rebounding during the 2024 season with 8.3–he’d no doubt be on pace to do it again if not for this injury.

Lufile has been averaging 4.7 rebounds per game this year, doing what he can to fill the team’s Moore-shaped hole. 

“Next man up mentality,” said Lufile when asked whether he takes pride in substituting as the team’s go-to rebounder. 

His abilities will be extra necessary in tonight’s matchup, as the Sea Bears are one of the better rebounding teams in the CEBL so far this season. They rank fourth in rebounds per-game with 41.8, and more importantly, second in offensive rebounds per-game with 13.8.

Those offensive rebounds make the Sea Bears lethal as a scoring threat in the paint. The team has a whopping four players averaging at least two offensive rebounds per game–the only team in the league with a higher number than that is the Montreal Alliance.

The BlackJacks began play against the Alliance last weekend during the CEBL Summer Classic at IGA Stadium however the game was cancelled at halftime due to unsafe floor conditions with Montreal holding a 52-29 lead before the stoppage.

That dominance from the Alliance came largely from the paint, where their five players averaging two-plus offensive rebounds per-game were able to generate easy offense at the rim. The Sea Bears have similar offensive rebounding ability to the Alliance, which could provide trouble for the BlackJacks tonight.

With strengths come weaknesses, however, and Winnipeg has both. Despite being an incredibly strong offensive rebounding team, they are the worst team in the CEBL in three-point percentage at 25%.

This lack of outside scoring means that the BlackJacks can afford to put all of their newfound urgency into stopping the Sea Bears’ scoring inside–it’s safer to let them shoot.

Winnipeg is also the second-lowest scoring team in the league this year, with just 82.0 points per game. That lack of scoring will put less pressure on Ottawa’s defense, which has been their weak point in past years.

If things go according to plan for the BlackJacks in tonight’s game, their newfound sense of urgency will help them stop the Sea Bears’ impressive rebounding abilities, and win them their second game of the season.