Guard Walt Lemon Jr. and forward Jackson Rowe led the Ottawa BlackJacks in a blowout game against the Saskatchewan Rattlers, combing for 39 points and cruising to a 101-50 victory.
In a match dominated by the BlackJacks, Lemon Jr. was aggressive on both ends of the floor. He says that’s his mindset going into each game.
“I think letting me be aggressive, getting downhill, finding my guys [and] putting pressure on the rim opened up more shots outside for my teammates which helped us build a lead tonight,” Lemon Jr. said.
“When Walt is downhill, he is one of the most explosive downhill guards at the rim,” BlackJacks head coach James Derouin said. “When he is aggressive—attacking the paint, making reads—we are at our best.”
The Blackjacks set a Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL) record allowing the fewest points—50 points—to an opposing team in a victory. They also tied the record for largest margin of victory with 51 points.
“I think we have a special group,” BlackJacks guard Kadre Grey said. “There are a lot of things we can work on and get better [at] but games like this where you win by 51, you just have to smile and be happy.”
The BlackJacks defence controlled the pace of the game, generating numerous turnovers allowing them to score frequently in transition. It suffocated the Rattlers’ offense, preventing them from getting open looks and high percentage shots in the paint.
Lemon Jr. added this win is a step in the right direction for the BlackJacks
“Tonight, we started off aggressive on defence and the offence built off the energy our defense created,” Lemon Jr. said.
The BlackJacks also handily won the turnover battle—turning over the ball over 11 times and recording 12 steals. The Rattlers, on the other hand, had much tougher luck. They turned over the ball 23 times and only recorded three steals.
Being the more aggressive team was key for the BlackJacks as they out-scored the Rattlers off turnovers 32-5.
“Transition points off turnovers is something we’ve been able to generate in the last few games,” Derouin said. “We were able to do it well today.”
The BlackJacks shot the lights out at TD Place arena, finishing the evening shooting 53.4 per cent from the field and 40 per cent from three point range. Their third quarter efforts blew the game wide open as they went five from seven from three and never shot below 50 per cent from the field in any quarter.
Rattlers Captain Tony Carr was not himself in his first game back from injury, despite being an MVP candidate in the league before getting injured.
“[Carr is] clearly not 100 per cent,” Derouin said. “We took advantage and did what we had to do to win but when they’re 100 per cent, they’re a really good team.”
Derouin said the team’s resiliency and effort in practice was high after a tough loss against Hamilton last week.
“We knew that was not a good performance by us,” Derouin said. “We retooled some stuff and really went to work in practice this week … I was really happy about the way it all translated onto the floor tonight.”
The BlackJacks were also able to move the ball effectively and get assists on 26 of 39 of their made buckets. Forward Jackson Rowe credited the hours of practice they put in leading up to the game for the team’s ball movement.
“Part of the game plan was to share the ball more after our game against Hamilton, where we were trying to play one-on-one basketball,” Rowe said. “Coach made it important for everyone to touch the ball before we score.”
For the Rattlers, the night was a disappointing one.
After shooting an abysmal 15.8 per cent from the field in the first quarter, the Rattlers only saw slight improvement finishing the night with 27.1 per cent from the field and 20.8 per cent from the three point range.
The Rattlers players simply lacked the creativity and ball movement to create open shots and couldn’t handle the BlackJacks defence. Even Rattlers’ captain Tony Carr said he knows they were outplayed.
“Ottawa played better than us. We turned the ball over too much, we gave them too many open shots and they got rolling early,” Carr said. “It’s tough to come back from down 20 when you go down early.”
However, the Rattlers were also without key marksman Scottie Lindsey, who is one of the best players in the CEBL. As a great ball-handler who can create shots for himself and his teammates, Lindsey’s absence was clearly felt.
Rattlers head coach Dean Demopoulos credited the BlackJacks dominance and acknowledged his side’s poor performance
“I think we all struggled … coaches struggled and players struggled,” Demopoulos said. “[It was a] poorly coached team and poorly played game from Saskatchewan tonight.”
