Ottawa BlackJacks Defeat Vancouver Bandits 97-93 for Sixth Straight Win

The Ottawa BlackJacks won their sixth straight game in a tense 97-93 victory over the Vancouver Bandits on Sunday at Langley Events Centre.

Jackson Rowe scored a game-high 26 points to power the BlackJacks to victory and maintain their spot atop the Eastern Conference with a 10-5 record.

Deng Adel went down in the second quarter and with injuries to Kadre Gray, Thomas Scrubb and Zena Edosomwan, other players stepped up for the BlackJacks.

“We've had guys in and out of the lineup like everybody in this league and we're just trying to maintain some kind of culture throughout those in and outs and I think we've managed to find that,” Ottawa head coach James Derouin said.

Ottawa guard Matthew Coleman III flirted with a triple-double in the victory with 12 points, nine rebounds, nine assists and two steals. Michael Flowers tallied 16 points and five assists and recent acquisition Jakeenan Gant scored 13 points, including the game-winning layup. Abu Kigab chipped in with 12 points for Ottawa as well.

Despite the loss, the Bandits shared the ball offensively with 27 assists and five players in double figures. Malcolm Duvivier paced the Vancouver offence with 18 points that included four threes to go along with five rebounds. Meanwhile, big men Nick Ward and Giorgi Bezhanishvili each scored 15 points with Ward securing a double-double with 10 rebounds as well. Duane Notice and new acquisition Marlon Johnson Jr. each stepped up off the bench for the Bandits with 14 points and 13 points respectively.

The teams were fairly even throughout the night, with similar shooting numbers and 15 turnovers each. There were 12 lead changes and 11 ties during the game.

“We had a good start to that third quarter – we had a 10-point lead – and as soon as we made some changes, I felt like the game really got away from us,” Vancouver head coach Kyle Julius said.

The Bandits were scorching hot to open the contest. Vancouver started with an 11-0 run that saw a pair of buckets from Alex Campbell, a big putback from Ward and almost four minutes of scoreless basketball from Ottawa.

The BlackJacks came out of a Derouin timeout energized, going on a 14-4 run powered by a pair of threes from both Rowe and Gant. Kigab drilled a three and connected on an and-one to take the lead for Ottawa, but Notice buried a corner three to give the Bandits a 26-24 advantage after 10 minutes.

Bandits’ guard Doug Herring drained a three to begin the second quarter and Ward protected the rim with a massive block. However, Rowe went to work for Ottawa and his teammates got hot from long range to retake the lead.

The Bandits and BlackJacks traded blows for the remainder of the half, with six lead changes and four ties between the two teams. A pair of free throws from Bezhanishvili gave Vancouver a narrow 49-48 lead heading into the locker room.

Rowe led all scorers at halftime with 19 points while Duvivier paced the Vancouver offence with 11 points. Both teams were efficient in the opening 20 minutes, shooting over 40 per cent from the field and long-range.

Vancouver started the third quarter in a similar fashion to the first, with a 13-4 run. The Bandits extended their lead back to 10 points thanks to a pair of Bezhanishvili putbacks and Duvivier’s fourth three of the game. However, the BlackJacks were able to stay resilient and tied the game at 73 to close the quarter thanks to a stellar stretch from Kigab and a timely three from Rowe.

Flowers and Coleman each opened the fourth with a layup to force a Julius timeout after a 12-0 Ottawa run stretching back to the third quarter. Bezhanishvili and Ward subsequently tied the game at 77 and the two teams essentially exchanged buckets until target score time. Flowers drilled a clutch three to help the BlackJacks to an 88-87 lead with a target score of 97.

Rowe extended the Ottawa lead to three to start target time, but Notice immediately answered with a triple. Flowers responded with a three of his own from Parliament Hill before Notice beat the shot clock with another game-tying trey.

Coleman went behind the back to Gant in transition, who missed his first attempt but finished the putback to leave Ottawa one field goal away from victory. Campbell missed a pair of crucial free throws for Vancouver and Derouin called a timeout to draw up a play.

The play didn’t pan out as intended, but Gant showed off his athleticism with a game-winning backward putback.

“If you ask [Coleman], he says there was a pass. I think we know that was an airball putback, but I think with [target score], it's not always pretty at the end of the games, and it takes something like that to happen,” Derouin said. 

Ottawa improves their record to 10-5 on the season, while Vancouver falls to 5-8.

Both teams set their sights on the Brampton Honey Badgers in their next matchup. The BlackJacks visit Brampton on Wednesday at 7 p.m. ET while Vancouver hosts the Honey Badgers on Friday.

All games are available for streaming on TSN+, CEBL+ powered by BetVictor and on the CEBL Mobile app available on iOS and Android devices.

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