Niagara Seals 89-78 Win Over Ottawa BlackJacks

ST. CATHARINES, ON – The Niagara River Lions defeated the Ottawa BlackJacks 89-78 at home.  Niagara moves to 6-3 on the season, Ottawa BlackJacks 1-6. 

The BlackJacks started the first quarter going inside the paint with Chad Posthumus and Walt Lemon Jr scoring the first six points while the River Lions scored two off of a Daniel Waldin-Mullings layup.  The BlackJacks early lead thanks to their paint defence grew to 12 points after a Deng Adel and Lemon three-pointer, but Munis Tutu from beyond the arc and Tidjan Keita at the rim got the River Lions back into it and got them to the foul line for easy points.  Waldin-Mullings tied the game at 19, Maxime Boursiquot layup put the BlackJacks up two and three free throws from Alonzo Walker put the River Lions up one.  At the end of the first quarter Niagara led 22-21.

Niagara’s lead that they pushed towards in the last five minutes of the first quarter continued throughout the second as their movement opened up gaps in the BlackJacks defence.  Waldin-Mullings continued to attack from the top of the key and created opportunities around the paint for Ej Onu and Alonzo Walker.  For the BlackJacks they attacked the paint and scored from inside with layups from the guards Lemon and Cody John.  The River Lions scored 18 points in the paint in the first half to the BlackJacks 16, but Niagara’s 47 per cent shooting inside gave them their 40-34 lead at halftime over Ottawa. 

The River Lions extended their lead to double-digits early in the third quarter thanks to five straight points from Khalil Ahmad and a three-pointer from Jaylen Babb-Harrison.  As the River Lions continued to use their movement to create open shooters, the BlackJacks found their success getting to the foul line, shooting 10 free throws in the quarter.  With John and Deng Adel initiating the offence with their attack, the BlackJacks cut back slightly into the River Lions lead making it 65-54 at the end of the third quarter. 

Three River Lions were in double-digit scoring as of the end of the third quarter.  Onu led with 13 points, Jaylen Babb-Harrison with 13 points and Khalil Ahmad with 10 points.  Tidjan Keita led the Niagara bench with nine points.  The BlackJacks matched the River Lions starters' points with three players in double-digits, Lemon led with 14 points and Adel and John both scored 11.  Going into the fourth quarter the team rebounding of the BlackJacks kept them ahead in that category, 34-25 leading them to a 11-6 advantage in second chance points.

Tutu and Onu scored the first nine points for the River Lions in the fourth quarter and pushed their lead to 14, 74-60 with 7:05 remaining in the quarter.  As the clock winded towards Elam time, neither team allowed the opposing guards to create separation and get a lane to the hoop, making ball movement and screen offence important, and offensive rebounds even more vital.  Niagara held onto a double-digit lead throughout the opening six minutes of the quarter and going into Elam time a fast break dunk from Ahmad after a block gave Niagara a 79-65 lead, target score set at 88.

A fast break layup from Keita and a pullup midrange jumper from Khalil Ahmad put the River Lions within five points of victory while Adel and Lemon gave the BlackJacks 71 points before Adel got his way to the free throw line and converted one of two putting the BlackJacks down 11, 83-72.  Keita around the rim continued to punish the BlackJacks while Adel forced fouls down low.  Adel scored nine points in Elam time for the BlackJacks but the deficit was too large and two free throws from Jaylen Babb-Harrison followed by a layup from Ahmad sealed the game for Niagara.  The River Lions won 89-78 over the Ottawa BlackJacks.

Ahmad finished with 16 points, four rebounds, four assists and two steals.  Babb-Harrison led the River Lions with 17 points, an assist and a steal.  Onu finished with 15 points, a rebound, two assists, a steal and five blocks.  Tutu and Keita both scored 13 points off of the bench, Tutu adding a rebound, five assists and a steal, Keita six rebounds, a steal and two blocks. 

Adel led the BlackJacks with 27 points, four rebounds and two assists.  Lemon scored 22 points to go with four rebounds, four assists and two steals.  John finished with 11 points, three rebounds and an assist.

Niagara Head Coach Victor Raso talked about the way his guards were able to create separation and get into the paint tonight, “they did a great job of it, our big thing was they'll handle the initial action well but I don't know how they'll handle the second one so ball movements, playing off closeouts was a big point of emphasis and (Daniel) Mullings was awesome, he set the tone right from the start, offensively, defensively, on the boards he was very good.”