Ahmed Hill Leads Alliance to Rollercoaster 86-83 Win Over BlackJacks
Ahmed Hill’s game-winning corner three allowed the Montréal Alliance to escape with an 86-83 victory over Ottawa BlackJacks in a thriller at TD Place on Thursday.
Hill paced the Montréal offence with a game-high 32 points that included eight in target score time to stop an Ottawa comeback victory.
“[Hill] was great,” Montréal head coach Derrick Alston Sr. said. “We got him started earlier and they had a tough defender on him but he ended up making some great shots. Then of course, he had the game winner, but his intensity was great all game.”
The BlackJacks trailed by 16 in the third quarter and stormed back to take the lead into target time but missed on two chances to win the game.
“It was a tough game, shout out to them...[they're] a great team and we just stayed with it,” Hill said post-game. “We kept talking in the huddle to just stay with it, just keep getting stops - that's what we preached.”
Alain Louis came up clutch for the Alliance and scored six of his 11 points in target time. The Montréal native provided an all-around performance with an additional nine assists, three steals and four rebounds. Treveon Graham and Mamadou Gueye rounded out the Montréal attack with 16 points and 14 points respectively.
Deng Adel was essential to Ottawa’s comeback without Kadre Gray in the lineup due to injury. Adel tallied 23 points, six rebounds, four assists and one block in the narrow loss. Zena Edosomwan recorded a double-double for the BlackJacks with 11 points and 11 rebounds in addition to three blocks and a steal. Meanwhile, Thomas Scrubb contributed 14 points for Ottawa and Tyrrel Tate added 10.
Ottawa finished with a higher field goal percentage than Montréal, but the Alliance hit 11 threes at a 48 per cent clip in the win.
“Once we got our defense going a little bit in the second half and created some turnovers, I thought we had a nice rhythm,” Ottawa head coach James Derouin said. “Then we came up a free throw short.”
Montréal started the game on a unique 9-0 run by scoring three points, three ways. Ifejeh finished an and-one, followed by a corner three and a trio of free throws from Hill. However, Ottawa answered with a 9-0 run of their own to tie the game. Late in the quarter, Gueye slammed a transition dunk to give the Alliance a 21-16 lead after 10 minutes.
To begin the second quarter, Edosomwan led the BlackJacks on another run to tie the game. Montréal clapped back with a three from Louis to regain the lead and Hill continued to dominate. The Alliance showed different looks defensively and closed the quarter with their largest lead of the half at 46-33.
Hill was on fire in the first half with 19 points on 5-8 shooting from the field, while Graham added 11 points for Montréal. The Alliance shot over 50 per cent from the field and three in the first half, while dishing 12 assists on 17 field goals.
The Alliance extended their lead to 16 early in the third quarter with big plays from Graham, Ifejeh and Hill. However, Adel got going and was rolling from deep to start the second half. The former Cleveland Cavalier scored 13 points in the third to lead the BlackJacks on a run to cut the deficit to 64-58 heading into the fourth.
Jackson Rowe connected on a short corner jumper to tie the game at 68 before Tate buried a wing three to give Ottawa their first lead of the night near the midway point of the fourth. A steal from Scrubb led to a transition layup and a 75-70 lead for the BlackJacks to start target score time.
Five points from Hill tied the game, but Ottawa regained the advantage with a goaltend and-one for Scrubb. The teams traded blows before Scrubb finished inside and Louis hit free throws to give each side a chance to win on their next possession.
Scrubb missed a floater to win and Ottawa fouled Louis to prevent a game-winning three. But after Michael Flowers missed a free throw to win, the game-winning three for Montréal came anyway from none other than Hill.
The Alliance improve to 4-6 on the season while Ottawa drops to 4-5.
Following Thursday’s game, Montréal will start a four-game homestand when they host the Edmonton Stingers on Sunday at 4 p.m. ET. Meanwhile, next up for Ottawa is a visit to Niagara on Saturday at 7 p.m. ET.
All games are available for streaming on TSN+, CEBL+ powered by BetVictor and on the CEBL Mobile app available on iOS and Android devices.
A league created by Canadians for Canadians with a mission to develop Canadian players, coaches, sports executives, and referees, the CEBL boasts the highest percentage of Canadian players of any pro league in the country with 71 per cent of its 2022 rosters being Canadian. Players bring experience from the NBA, NBA G League, top international pro leagues, the Canadian National team program, and top NCAA programs as well as U SPORTS. Nine players have moved from the CEBL into the NBA following a CEBL season, and 28 CEBL players attended NBA G League training camps during October. The CEBL season runs from May through August. More information about the CEBL is available at CEBL.ca and @cebleague on
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