BlackJacks look to extend winning streak in matchup with 7-3 Honey Badgers

The Ottawa BlackJacks will look to follow up the biggest Elam ending comeback in Canadian Elite Basketball League history with their third consecutive win in a matchup with the Hamilton Honey Badgers at FirstOntario Centre in Hamilton on Saturday. Tip-off is at 4:00 p.m. ET and will see these two teams match up for the first time this season. 

In their 91-90 comeback win over Scarborough on Monday night, the BlackJacks went on a 23-8 run to end the game and recovered a 14 point deficit in Elam time. The Shooting Stars went 0-4 from the field with a chance to win and Tyrell Green came off the bench and hit a trio of clutch threes including a stepback game-winner to power the BlackJacks to victory.  Walt Lemon Jr. and Deng Adel each scored 20 points for Ottawa in their win with Lemon adding 9 assists and Adel adding 7 rebounds and 5 assists. 

Meanwhile, the Hamilton Honey Badgers recovered from back-to-back losses to defeat the Guelph Nighthawks 95-76 on Thursday. Christian Vital led the Honey Badgers to victory with 22 points and 6 assists while Jeremiah Tillmon chipped in 17. 

Hamilton enters the game at 7-3, sitting in second place with the Niagara River Lions losing on Canada Day to Saskatchewan to move both teams’ records to 7-4. The Fraser Valley Bandits entered Friday in first place and lost to the Scarborough Shooting Stars, dropping to 8-3. The Ottawa BlackJacks sit at 3-7 in eighth place in the CEBL standings with a playoff spot clinched due to hosting. 

The BlackJacks are second in the CEBL in assists per game and field goal percentage despite sitting eighth in the league in points per game. The Honey Badgers are third in the CEBL in points per game, field goal percentage, and assists per game while leading the league in rebounding at just over 39 rebounds per game. 

Caleb Agada leads the Honey Badgers in rebounds per game at 6.7, assists per game at 5.9 and steals per game at 2.4. He also leads the league in assists per game and steals per game while sitting fourth in total rebounds. Agada has proved to be an essential player for the Honey Badgers, also averaging 13.9 points per game. Christian Vital and Jeremiah Tillmon round out a stellar trio for Hamilton. Vital leads the team in scoring and places eighth in the league at 18.5 points per game. Tillmon averages 13.6 points per game and 5.9 rebounds per game on a league-best 66.7 per cent from the field. 

The BlackJacks’ offence is powered by the dynamic duo of Deng Adel and Walt Lemon Jr. Adel’s well-rounded game and efficient scoring has been showcased all season. He’s the lone player in the league averaging more than 15 points per game while shooting over 50 per cent from the field and from three, and joins Fraser Valley’s Shane Gibson and Edmonton’s Brody Clarke as the only players in that group close to a 50-40-90 season. Adel averages 19.2 points per game on 52.8 per cent from the field, 54.8 per cent from three and 80 per cent from the line to go along with 5.4 rebounds per game and 4.8 assists per game. HIs three point percentage is a league-best, while he sits seventh in points per game and assists per game.  Lemon Jr. has also been outstanding for Ottawa, averaging 18.2 points per game and 5.3 assists per game and 1.3 steals per game on 52.9 per cent shooting. 

The game will stream on CEBL+ live internationally and in Canada at cbcsports.ca, the CBC Sports app for iOS

and Android devices and the free CBC Gem streaming service. Games are also available on the CEBL’s official app, CEBL Mobile, available on iOS and Android devices.

Hamilton Honey Badgers season tickets are available at https://www.honeybadgers.ca/tickets while Ottawa BlackJacks season tickets are available at https://www.theblackjacks.ca/tickets. 

A league created by Canadians for Canadians, the CEBL has the highest percentage of Canadian players of any professional league in the country, with 71 percent of its current rosters being Canadians. Players bring experience from the NBA, NBA G League, top international leagues, the Canadian National team program, and top NCAA programs as well as U SPORTS. The only First Division Professional League Partner of Canada Basketball, the CEBL season runs from May through August. Head to CEBL.ca for more information or follow us (@cebleague) on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, LinkedIn, Facebook & YouTube.