BlackJacks fend off pesky Alliance to clinch top-3 seed in East

Ottawa’s hopes of hosting a playoff game are alive and well.

The BlackJacks held off the Montreal Alliance for an 87-83 victory on Wednesday at Verdun Auditorium, ensuring they will finish in the top three of the Eastern Conference.

Ottawa improved to 11-11 with the win, tying the Scarborough Shooting Stars for second in the conference. The Alliance dropped to 8-14 and will finish fourth before visiting either Ottawa or Scarborough in the play-in.

For the BlackJacks, their latest win didn’t come easily.

“Every time we play Montreal it’s a tough game like this. And to come here and beat them in this environment … it’s a really good win for us,” BlackJacks head coach Dave DeAveiro said.

A tight contest throughout landed at 77-73 in favour of Ottawa when the clocks turned off for Target Score Time following a 7-0 BlackJacks run.

The Alliance responded with a run of their own after the stoppage, building a 79-77 lead through a chaotic few possessions that included many missed shots and subsequent offensive rebounds.

But BlackJacks forward Justin Jackson halted the run with a clutch three-pointer to give Ottawa the lead back. After a Montreal miss, Ottawa’s Isaih Moore then connected on a putback to put the BlackJacks back in control.

After the teams traded buckets, Ottawa sat one three-pointer away from victory.

And following a Kevin Osawe floater for the Alliance, Jackson delivered a triple once again on the game-winner.

“This is just playoff basketball, man. I love playing in environments like this,” Jackson said in a post-game interview with sideline reporter Gabriela Hébert. “This is two great teams going at it. I love competition, my dogs were behind me, they were motivating me the whole game, so I just had to keep going.”

Ottawa’s win marked its 50th in franchise history, including playoffs.

But even despite its standing, a playoff game may not be coming to Ottawa. Due to The Masters Indigenous Games 2025 (MIG) from Aug. 14-17 at The Arena at TD Place, if the BlackJacks finish second and host the East semi, the game will take place in Gatineau, Que. Should they finish third, the play-in game — in which the Alliance are now assured of being the road team on paper — will take place in Montreal.

For now, the BlackJacks and Alliance go right back at it in another meeting back in the nation’s capital on Friday. Then, they could meet for the third time in eight days during next Thursday’s play-in.

And so Ottawa still has plenty more to play for over its final two contests.

The victory in Montreal certainly gave the BlackJacks a taste of post-season atmosphere, intensity and momentum swings.

“You’re gonna go through those periods where they’re really good and you have to stay together and keep fighting. And I thought we did that,” DeAveiro said.

Jackson, the Toronto native, led the way for Ottawa with 21 points, including a pair of clutch Target Time triples, to go with five rebounds and four assists.

It was his highest point total of the season.

“I was just thriving in this gym. It’s a great environment to play basketball. … It’s chippy, it’s intense, it’s physical and I love that, bro. At the end of the day, I’m just gonna go out here and play as hard as I can and today shots were falling,” Jackson said.

Moore posted a 17-point, 11-rebound double-double as he led the Ottawa charge in the first half.

Forward Deng Adel nearly matched that double-double while putting up 15 points and nine assists, while Keevan Veinot passed 500 points for his career (including playoffs) with a 12-point performance.

Javonte Smart, who entered the contest leading the league by a wide margin with 28.2 points per game, managed just 10 points on four-of-18 shooting. He contributed in other ways by notching five assists and five rebounds.

Adel said his team has unfinished business after its playoff loss to the Niagara River Lions last year.

“We keep coming back every summer and our main goal is to win it together. We have great camaraderie within the group and the coaches, the management, the president, they genuinely really want to see us win it. So for us that’s always the goal,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Alliance fought mightily after falling behind early and trailing for most of the game, but just could not get the victory past the finish line.

Now, they’re locked into fourth and face an uphill battle to return to Championship Weekend after playing host last season.

Head coach Jermaine Small said his team leaned too much toward individual play in the loss.

“There’s a delicate balance of emotions and guys, quite frankly, wanting to be the hero. I think when we play as a team, we play better, and I think when guys try to do it as individuals, we lose and we go unprepared into [Target Score Time]. So I think it’s just a matter of team ball vs. me ball,” Small said.

Speedy guard Tavian Dunn-Martin scored a game-high 30 points in the loss while adding six rebounds. He left the game briefly at the end of the first half but returned in fine form for the second half.

The Huntington, W.V., native connected on seven of 12 three-point attempts to keep the Alliance close to the BlackJacks throughout.

Malcolm Duvivier added 12 points off the bench to go with five rebounds, while Osawe was the only other Alliance player to reach double-digit scoring at 11 points.

Dunn-Martin said it was a competitive contest.

“The difference between the two teams is not very much. They just wanted it more. We just gotta be hungry and want to win, so we’re just gonna take some hunger and go into next game and next week with it,” he said.

Three-time CEBL MVP Xavier Moon was in the house for the game.

The BlackJacks led 27-21 after the first quarter even as Smart failed to score. Ottawa continued to lead by six at 48-42 heading into halftime.

Through three quarters, the Alliance had cut into the lead, but Ottawa still entered the final frame leading 64-62.

From there, a tense back-and-forth — with both teams clearly understanding the stakes of the contest — ensued.

Call it the first of many more still to come.

Up Next

The Alliance and BlackJacks meet again on Friday in Ottawa.

Next CEBL Action

Every team is in action during a quintuple-header Friday, which doubles as the second-last gameday of the regular season.