Ottawa BlackJacks clinch playoff berth with 88-79 win over Scarborough Shooting Stars

The Ottawa BlackJacks (12-5) extended their franchise-best win streak to eight games as they took down the Scarborough Shooting Stars (7-7) in an 88-79 victory on Friday night.

It was Jackson Rowe who led the way with 26 points, eight rebounds, and four assists, as Ottawa became the first team in the CEBL this season to clinch a playoff berth. He ended the contest shooting over 50 per cent from the field and from distance on route to his season-high scoring night. 

The forward was joined by the duo of Deng Adel and Kadre Gray as the only other BlackJacks’ players to hit double figures as the trio accounted for 70 per cent of the team’s offensive output in the game. The MVP candidate Adel nearly tallied a triple-double with his 19 points, nine rebounds, and eight assists, while Gray added 17 points as well.

On the other side it was the Walker and Walker pairing of Kyree and David that did most of Scarborough’s scoring on the night. Kyree dropped 16 points on 7-10 shooting, while David added 11 points and five rebounds. Cat Barber struggled for the second game in a row as the team’s leading scorer notched just 10 points on 36 per cent shooting from the field.

Ottawa entered the night as the league’s best three-point shooting team (39.4 per cent), and throughout the first quarter of this contest they proved why. The squad knocked down four triples on a 57 per cent clip, as they held on to a slim 21-20 lead going into the second. In their 93-82 win back in May, the team knocked down 17 threes on 60 per cent, and looked like they were well on their way to replicating that performance and outcome.

Rowe led the way for the BlackJacks as he scored nine points in the frame, going 2-2 from distance along the way.

The forward’s hot shooting night didn’t stop there as he knocked down two more triples in the first four minutes of the second quarter, to make it 15 points at the 7:01 mark, outpacing his 14.7 points per game before the game had even reached halftime. The Toronto, Ontario, native kept the momentum going the rest of the frame as he finished the second with a game-high 20 points – tying his season-high for a full game – on a red-hot 77 per cent shooting from the field and 71 per cent from distance.

“It felt good, so I kept shooting,” said Rowe post-game. “I wasn’t forcing anything…we’re known as a ball movement team, and I was just open.”

His stellar play led an 8-0 run by Ottawa that had them up eight points for a majority of the quarter before Gray ended the half by driving to the basket and dropping in a layup. The lead guard’s buzzer-beating basket gave the BlackJacks the biggest lead of the game so far, putting them up 45-36 at halftime. 

Things continued going Ottawa’s way as the two squads came out of their locker rooms, as the BlackJacks went on a 7-0 run in less than a minute of play to extend their lead to a game-high 13 points.

With the game starting to slip away from Scarborough, they finally found an answer to their struggles in the final moments of the third quarter.  Surprisingly, it wasn’t the usual suspects like Barber or Kassius Robertson, instead it was rookie David Walker that willed the Shooting Stars back into the contest.

The second pick in round two of the 2023 CEBL U SPORTS Draft for Scarborough scored seven of his 11 points on the night in the third quarter, helping the squad cut their deficit down to just four points. Unfortunately for fans at the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre, the Shooting Stars gave two points right back as they let Maxime Boursiquot drop in a wide-open layup to end the frame, keeping them down 65-59 heading to the fourth.

Scarborough looked determined to come out with their second win against Ottawa this season and avoid dropping back to an even record as they came out firing to start the fourth. It was Walker who led the way in that front, Kyree Walker that is. The other Walker followed his namesake as he took over and scored five points in quick succession to help the Shooting Stars cut the lead down to as little as one point. 

However, the trio of Adel, Rowe, and Gray collectively responded as they scored 12 of Ottawa’s 14 points as the BlackJacks held a 79-75 lead heading into Target Score Time. 

Most fans remember the last time these two teams went head-to-head, Scarborough erased an eight-point deficit in Target Score Time before Thomas Kennedy picked off Adel and broke away for the game-winning dunk. However, without Kennedy in this one – as he’s currently with team Canada at Global Jam – the BlackJacks knew it was their time to capitalize and exact some revenge.

“When they had that game-winner…that hurt us,” said Rowe on his team’s mindset coming into the game. “We felt it in our hearts, and we wanted to come out here and show that we remembered that, and we did a good job of showing that.”

Kyree Walker tried to fill in for Kennedy as he scored five more points – making it 10 in the fourth – cutting the lead back down to a possession. However, Scarborough couldn’t find the defensive stops necessary to complete the comeback as Ottawa’s two main candidates for CEBL hardware Adel and Gray put an end to the contest. 

An inability to get stops plagued the Shooting Stars all night as they allowed the league’s most efficient offense to finish the game shooting 52 per cent from the field and 44 per cent from distance.

The duo of Adel and Gray scored the BlackJacks final seven points, with Gray hitting the game-winning basket by way of a baseline fadeaway jumper, 88-79 the final.

Ottawa’s reward for their eighth consecutive win is an extended rest, as they now get six days before returning to take on the second-seeded Niagara River Lions on July 20. 

Meanwhile, Scarborough won’t get nearly as much time to regroup from their second loss in a row, as they host those same River Lions on Sunday.

“We’re going to bring a lot of energy” said Kyree Walker on what his team’s going to need to come out with a win against Niagara. “That’s the biggest thing…we’re going to get guys locked in and ready to come back and play Sunday.”

All games are available on TSN+ and CEBL + powered by BetVictor. Recap written by Zulfi Sheikh (@zulfi_sheikh).

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.