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After grinding it out in the first half, the Edmonton Stingers turned it on the final two quarters to power their way to an 87-85 victory over the Ottawa BlackJacks, extending their winning streak to seven straight games. The Stingers scored 52 points in the second half, powered by MVP-candidate Sean East II who was limited in the first thanks to foul trouble. He finished with 23 points and five assists, Keon Ambrose-Hylton also had 23 points to go along with 10 rebounds, and Scottie Lindsey added 13 points including three three-pointers. “He showed up in the second half,” Stingers head coach Jordan Baker said of his star. “Obviously in the first half, he was in some foul trouble. But he came back in a big way in the second half. He was great offensively, but I thought he was great defensively in our coverages and we certainly aren’t where we are without him in our lineup.” “We’re approaching every game down the stretch as a must win,” he continued. “Calgary is playing great, Vancouver is playing great. We’re in a situation where we’re going to have to see one of those teams – maybe both – in the [playoffs]. For us, our goal is to try to get into a first or second seed where we can host a playoff game and we can lean on our crowd in Edmonton.” As is often the case in basketball, the first half was a game of runs. Edmonton got off to a 16-12 lead, but an Ottawa timeout would equate to a 15-0 run that put them up by double-digits at the end of the quarter. They would extend their lead to as much as 12 being up 36-24, which featured a 9:40 stretch between the first and second quarter where the BlackJacks held the Stingers to shooting just 2-of-16 from the floor. Edmonton would answer with an 11-3 run of their own to cut the lead to four heading into the break. The road team continued their hot play coming out of the locker room, going on a 10-1 run to start the third quarter, totaling to outscore their opponents 21-4 during the entire stretch. Ottawa would answer with a 12-3 run before Zane Waterman was forced to leave the game with an injury in a pivotal moment of the game late in the third quarter. With the BlackJacks already undermanned due to Deng Adel sitting out due to illness, the home squad also found themselves undersized with the loss of their import big. Ambrose-Hylton would take full advantage, scoring 17 points in the second half. “I think from the jump, I go into every game trying to take over, trying to do what I can for the team,” he said afterwards. “I know most teams don’t have a guy that’s going to be running down the floor, up and down, one hundred percent of the time. I use that to my advantage in every game.” “They tell us everyday in practice to play hard and use our speed. We got a lot of players that might not be the tallest, but we know what we’re doing. We got a lot of dogs, and we play fast. When it comes to getting rebounds, we know what spots to be on the court. We got our guards tucking the elbows, we got our bigs going to the paint. We’re not just going in there running and dashing. We’re making sure to be in the right spots at the right times,” Ambrose-Hylton added. For the BlackJacks, Isaih Moore finished with a game-high 28 points and 15 rebounds, finishing two boards shy of tying the franchise regular season record. Javonte Smart posted a double-double with 19 points and a CEBL career high 10 assists – one shy of the team record, Waterman had 12 points and six rebounds before leaving, and Keevan Veinot – playing without a sleeve on his shoulder for the first time this season – showed off his health with a 13 point, six rebound, six assist game. The game was all tied up at 78 heading into Target Time, where a number of mistakes would ultimately prove costly for the BlackJacks on their home court. Most notably, a technical foul was assessed to Smart after a Moore foul on East, giving the latter an extra shot on the line which would prove to be critical as he drove to the lane and scored in the next possession for the win. “First of all, I’m proud of my guys, the way they competed,” BlackJacks head coach Dave DeAveiro said. “Being two guys down, I thought we fought, competed right to the end. There’s a lot of pride in that room, a lot of disappointment right now. We seem to struggle in terms of executing down the stretch, in Target Time. We continue to review it, and we’ll continue to get better. But when a tough loss like this happens, the most important thing is to stick together. Continue to believe in what you’re doing and continue to move forward.” “We did not execute the plan in the second half defensively,” he said of his team’s ultimate downfall. “Whether that’s fatigue – and that’s part of it – guys played a lot of minutes today. Javonte, Isaih. Guys played a lot of minutes out there. You’re tired, and things happen when you’re tired. We had a lot of defensive breakdowns in the second half that we normally don’t have. The game wasn’t decided in that last shot. Everyone can think it was, but it wasn’t. It was all the breakdowns we had defensively in the second half that leads to 52 points. That’s the difference in the game.” The Edmonton Stingers now found themselves one game away from punching their post-season ticket. They can learn their fate as early as tomorrow, as a Saskatchewan Rattlers loss to the Vancouver Bandits would lock the Stingers into a playoff spot. They can also guarantee their berth by extending their seven-game winning streak – the third in franchise history and only the fourth in the history of the league – in their next game. The longest winning streak in league history is nine, held by Edmonton in the CEBL’s inaugural season. Box Score https://www.cebl.ca/game?id=2600645 Up Next The Edmonton Stingers travel to Vancouver to take on the Western Conference leading Bandits on July 20. The Ottawa BlackJacks will stay home to host the Brampton Honey Badgers on July 21. Next CEBL Action The Vancouver Bandits will play host to the Saskatchewan Rattlers on July 18, streaming live on CEBL+ and TSN+. For the full 2025 CEBL schedule and up-to-date results, please visit cebl.ca/games . 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The Ottawa BlackJacks of the Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL) take on the Edmonton Stingers tonight at 7:30 p.m. at The Arena at TD Place. This matchup is set to be one of the most exciting games of the 2025 season for fans, as the BlackJacks and the Stingers are the two hottest teams in the league. Edmonton has gone 6-0 in their last six games, while Ottawa has gone 5-1, with their only loss being a three-point nailbiter against the Saskatchewan Rattlers. Despite the similarities in the momentum between these two teams though, there are different things propelling them to the level of play they’re at right now. The BlackJacks, on one hand, have been on fire because of their new signee, Javonte Smart. Since signing on June 20, the former Miami Heat, Milwaukee Buck, and Philadelphia 76er has played six games with Ottawa, and in that time proven that he can create his own shot with ease in the CEBL. He leads the league in points per game, at 30.3, as well as field goals made per-game, with 11.7. “[Javonte] is a legitimate scorer,” said BlackJacks Head Coach David DeAveiro. Smart’s talent has transformed Ottawa’s offense and allowed them to focus on their biggest strength, shooting. When Smart uses his quickness to attack the rim, it draws in help defenders from his opponents. That gravity leaves his teammates open on the three-point line, giving the BlackJacks quality looks in nearly every possession. And the ones taking those open looks for Ottawa are some of the league’s top shooting talent: forward Zane Waterman is shooting a blistering 50% from three on over six attempts per game, forward Justin Jackson is shooting near the 40% mark from distance and guard Tyrrel Tate is around 40% as well. Even the team’s starting centre, Isaih Moore, is shooting 37.5% from distance. All of that talent on the perimeter has allowed Smart’s shot creation to produce a ton of open threes for the BlackJacks. The team leads the league in three-point percentage this season at 37.8%. In their last five games, that average has grown even higher to 40.8%. The Stingers, on the other hand, haven’t gone on their hot streak because of a new signee. In fact, the opposite. In terms of their roster, Edmonton hasn’t changed much since the last time they took on Ottawa in early June. They released guard Devonté Bandoo, who now plays with the Rattlers, signed former Vancouver Bandit Mike Nuga and also brought in forward Chris Smith. Other than those minor changes, this Stingers team is essentially the same–they didn’t sign anybody new to help the team snag more wins. Instead, their strong team chemistry and coaching has resulted in their current six-game winning streak, which has included two impressive wins against the 11-5 Calgary Surge. Stingers Head Coach, Jordan Baker, was a major piece in both of the team’s CEBL Championships in 2020 and 2021 as a player, before retiring and joining the coaching staff for the 2023 season. Baker is coaching the Stingers to success this year by playing fast and not giving up any extra possessions. They lead the league in defensive rebounds per-game this season (29.8). From there, they can push in transition, and tend to score tons of easy baskets before the defense has set up. “[Edmonton] are a well-coached team that’s on a run right now,” said DeAveiro, “They play together, they pay attention to details. They’re just playing really good basketball right now. The head of the snake for the Stingers is guard Sean East II, who leads the CEBL in total points, while averaging 23.8 points per-game and 5.0 assists per-game. East II has made his way into MVP conversations this season, and slowing him down is absolutely DeAveiro’s number one priority. “He’s really talented,” said DeAveiro, “He’s a smart basketball player who’s got skill and some quickness, so he’s a tough matchup for sure.” According to DeAveiro, the BlackJacks will attempt to counter East II by having defensive maestro Shakur Daniel guard him. Daniel has proven countless times over this season that he’s capable of slowing down an opponent’s best player. The best example of that ability is easily his performance against the Brampton Honey Badgers on June 10. Daniel’s individual defense was able to hold the Honey Badgers’ Quinndary Weatherspoon to just three points on one-of-five shooting from the field. Weatherspoon averaged nearly 18 points a game at the time and Daniel will need to create a similar drastic drop off from East II to cut off Edmonton’s main source of scoring. Despite East II’s ridiculous statistics this season, the rest of the Stingers roster can stand on their own two feet as well. Forward Scottie Lindsey has already erupted for 28 points or more on three separate occasions this season, forward Keon Ambrose-Hylton has the length inside to put pressure on the rim, the aforementioned Smith averages 9.0 points per-game and forward Nick Hornsby is a solid ball handler who fills up the stat sheet every night. All of those players have the capacity to push the pace in transition. With so many different offensive threats, the task of stopping the rest of the Stingers’ squad will rest on the shoulders of the BlackJacks’ team defense. Ottawa boasts the best defense in the CEBL thanks to Daniel’s presence and DeAveiro’s coaching, and they’ll need to take advantage of that in this one. Ottawa’s one defensive weakness is rebounding the ball–they average the second-lowest rebounds per game in the league, at 38.4 per-game. By not boxing out and grabbing defensive rebounds, the BlackJacks have given their opponents too many second-chance opportunities. Luckily for them, though, Edmonton is only good at defensive rebounding–in fact, in one of the strangest statistical differences in the league, the Stingers grab the most defensive rebounds per game in the league, but average the second-lowest offensive rebounds per-game (10.4). While this tactic is likely a purposeful method by Baker to force his team back on defense, it also means that the BlackJacks won’t have to worry as much about their rebounding weakness. If the Stingers aren’t chasing offensive rebounds, it makes grabbing defensive rebounds much easier for the BlackJacks. On the offensive end, the key to the BlackJacks taking home a win tonight will be scoring in the paint. Another reason for the Stingers being poor offensive rebounders is their lack of size – at 6'9", Ambrose-Hylton is their tallest player. That lack of size inside not only affects Edmonton’s ability to grab offensive rebounds, but also their ability to defend inside. The team averages the lowest number of blocks per-game in the CEBL at just 2.4. Ottawa should be able to take advantage of that offensively by attacking the paint. Smart’s drives to the rim usually create open shots on the perimeter, but with Edmonton’s lack of interior defense, those open shots may be lobs around the rim to Moore instead. “[Moore] will have success doing what [Moore] does,” said DeAveiro, “I’m sure a focal point for Edmonton is how to contain him.” So look out not as much for three-point opportunities in tonight’s game, but more attacks inside from Smart, Moore, and the rest of the BlackJacks. This game is sure to be a battle on both ends, with neither team wanting to lose the momentum they’re riding. Interact with us on social media: Instagram: ottawablackjacks X: Ott_BlackJacks Facebook: OttawaBlackJacks TikTok: ottawablackjacks