The Ottawa BlackJacks completed a season sweep over the Brampton Honey Badgers in the Canadian Elite Basketball League with a commanding 91-77 victory on Monday.
In target score time, Isaih Moore chased down his own blocked layup at TD Place Arena, laying in the final bucket, securing a BlackJacks win and his 18th rebound of the night — and marking a single-game franchise record.
“Damn —18 [rebounds], that’s not a bad night to offer,” Moore said in a post game scrum. “My effort and my energy are two things that really propel me to get rebounds.”
His four offensive rebounds fueled his squad’s impressive 19 second-chance points.
“They have multiple guys that are on the glass, and I feel like we were getting the initial stop, and then they just were getting those second chance points,” Honey Badgers head coach Thomas Cory said after the game.
Defensive breakdowns plagued the BlackJacks in the opening quarter. The club allowed 30 points against a Honey Badgers offence that has scored less than 80 points in their last three games.
“We had some breakdowns defensively because we weren’t communicating with each other,” BlackJacks head coach David DeAveiro said. “I was happy with our last three quarters.”
BlackJacks star Javonte Smart fueled the club’s offence past their defensive troubles in the first frame. Smart’s hot hand was evident from all areas of the floor, shooting 80 per cent and picking up 11 points.
Amari Kelly’s buzzer-beater closed the tightly contested first quarter. His mid-range jumpshot marked Brampton’s 30th point of the quarter.
Ottawa’s defence bounced back after an underwhelming first quarter and held the Honey Badgers to just 44 points in the next three.
“Coach emphasized that [the second half] was going to be a defensive half for us to pull away with the lead,” Moore said. “We locked in on that for sure.”
After a flurry of missed chances early in the second quarter, guard Ali Sow stole the lead for the Honey Badgers. But a mere 12 seconds later, Smart responded with a shifty layup that eliminated Brampton’s only lead of the contest.
Through tight defence and eye-catching ball movement, Ottawa continued to gain momentum and escaped their opposition on the scoreboard. The BlackJacks boosted their lead to 11 points ahead of halftime.
Ottawa faced fewer defensive challenges in the second half. With a synced-up system, the squad tracked screens and contested numerous Honey Badger shot attempts, limiting their opposition to only 13 for 41.
Highlighted by alley-oops, creative layups and swat-like blocks in the fourth quarter, starters and bench players drove the consistent six-or-more point lead to victory.
“We’re a team that can play nine guys,” Moore said. “When our bench comes to play like that, along with our starters, I think we’re an issue for any team that we play against.”
The victory rewarded the BlackJacks with an even .500 record on the season.
“This win got us back in the win column,” Moore said. “We’re .500 again so now we’re trying to run off these last two and a half weeks of the season.”
With eight games remaining, Ottawa is pushing to claim either the first or second seed in the eastern conference. A top-two finish would secure them a home court advantage and a spot in either the conference semi-finals or the conference finals.
“We set a goal — hosting a playoff game — so anything (short of) that would be a little bit disappointing,” DeAveiro said. “We’re all on the same page there.”
The BlackJacks are eyeing six games in the next 13 days, but DeAveiro said his players’ rest is a top priority.
“This is the toughest stretch of the season coming up, and we got to make sure our guys are fresh,” he said.
After a day of rest, Ottawa will begin their tight six-game stretch on the road in Montreal, where they will square off against the Alliance on July 23.
An Ottawa win or a Brampton loss would see the BlackJacks clinch a playoff berth.
Featured image by Tim Austen/Freestyle Photography
