BlackJacks Catch Fire from Deep, Roll Past Honey Badgers on Camp Day

While the clouds were outside in the Brampton area on Wednesday, it was raining threes inside the CAA Centre as the Ottawa BlackJacks tied a franchise-record with 17 made triples en route to a 101-73 win over the Honey Badgers.

The BlackJacks made 11 of those long-balls in the second half, finishing plus-seven on made triples overall while converting on a 54 per cent clip for the game as they improved to 7-7 on the season — tied with the Scarborough Shooting Stars for second in the East and two games back of the Niagara River Lions. Meanwhile, the Honey Badgers fell to 4-11 and remain at the bottom of the conference.

Leading Ottawa’s three-point onslaught was Javonte Smart, who finished with a game-high 28 points on 4-of-6 shooting from distance as the team improved to 5-1 since adding the import guard. Behind him was Isaih Moore with 17 points, 13 rebounds and six assists on 8-of-11 from the field.

Deng Adel and Zane Waterman (off the bench) each chipped in 17 points as the forward duo also each knocked down five threes, respectively, going a combined 10-of-15. Meanwhile, Keevan Veinot added 12 points and eight assists while going 5-of-7 from the field.

“It was a great second half, we obviously shot the ball well, but I think the main difference in the second half was just defending (better),” Adel said after the win. “We did a good job of matching their intensity and stopping their main scorers.”

On the other side, David Muenkat’s 16 points and seven rebounds led the way as Brampton lost its third game in a row. Quinndary Weatherspoon added 14 points while Amari Kelly and Bryson Williams rounded out the double-digit scoring efforts with 11 and 10 points apiece.

“Ottawa made a lot of threes in the third quarter and that kind of just opened up the game,” Honey Badgers head coach Sheldon Cassimy said. “Sometimes it was making open shots, other times it was tough shots, they just had it rolling … that was literally the game right there.”

Conference rivalry games are never supposed to be easy, especially when one team has taken the first two of four matchups by an average of 17.5 points, like Ottawa had. Something Brampton appeared determined to change on Wednesday, as they kept things much closer early on.

The first half between the East rivals saw 12 lead changes as neither team carved out a lead larger than six points, despite the BlackJacks going on an 8-0 run mid-way through the second, to which the Honey Badgers responded with a 10-0 charge of their own.

Once the dust settled on an opening half that fittingly saw both teams shoot an identical 51 per cent from the field, and was capped off by an Adel triple right before the buzzer, Brampton held on for a 45-42 lead.

That narrow edge was largely thanks to their efforts defensively as the Honey Badgers forced 12 BlackJacks turnovers in the first half, eight in the second quarter alone, from a team that entered the day averaging 14.7 per game. That disruptive play not only won Brampton the first-half possession battle, it also earned it a 14-7 edge on points off turnovers. That trend wouldn’t continue, however, as the BlackJacks only gave the ball away three times the rest of the way.

“The two things we talked about at halftime were turning things up on defence, and then taking care of the ball,” Ottawa head coach Dave DeAveiro said post-game. “I thought we did a really good job in those two areas in the second half.”

And then the third quarter happened.

A frame in which the BlackJacks outscored the Honey Badgers 32-13 after Ottawa caught fire from beyond the arc. The same team that made six threes in the opening half drilled eight triples in the third quarter alone.

Leading that charge was Adel, who hit four shots from beyond the arc as he scored 12 points in the third to more than remedy a quiet first half with just three points.

“Deng has great self-awareness,” DeAveiro explained. “He had four shots in the first half (he knew) he needed to take more shots … he played with a lot more bounce, a lot more step and let the game come to him.”

Right behind him was Waterman, who’s two triples towards the end of the third not only contributed to a 12-0 BlackJacks run en route to a 74-58 lead before the fourth, but also marked his 100th regular-season three-point make all-time. The sharpshooter was just the 15th player in CEBL history to reach that mark.

“Our energy kind of died down in the second half,” Muenkat said after the loss. “We weren’t able to have a response to their late-game push … they just really got hot, which kind of tilted the momentum.”

Ottawa’s lead only ballooned from that point, leading 92-68 at the start of Target Score Time before Moore wrapped up the Camp Day win in front of the 2,641 in attendance with a make at the charity stripe as part of nine points in the fourth quarter.

It won’t be long before the East rivals square off again, as they’ll run it back for their fourth and final regular-season matchup in less than two weeks (July 21) when the BlackJacks host the Honey Badgers with hopes of sweeping the series.

Box Score

https://www.cebl.ca/game?id=2600625

Up next

The Honey Badgers stay put in Brampton as they get set to host the West-leading Bandits on Friday — a rematch from Sunday when Vancouver held on for a three-point win. Meanwhile, the BlackJacks get an extended break as they’ll return on July 17 when they host the red-hot Edmonton Stingers, winners of five straight.

Next CEBL action

Wednesday’s double-header slate resumes with the first-ever Stampede Game at Scotiabank Saddledome as the Montreal Alliance visit the Calgary Surge for a cross-conference clash at 9:30 p.m. ET / 7:30 p.m. local.

For the full 2025 CEBL schedule and up-to-date results, please visit cebl.ca/games.

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