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 Saskatchewan Rattlers

Rattlers Look to Rebound against BlackJacks in Saskatoon

July 14, 2022 - Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL)
Saskatchewan Rattlers News Release


The Saskatchewan Rattlers look to avenge a historic loss to the Ottawa BlackJacks when they host them on July 14 at 7:30 pm CT/9:30 pm ET.

The BlackJacks defeated the Rattlers 101-50 in Ottawa on July 6. The 51-point margin of victory is a CEBL record. In that game, Ottawa's entire team was executing well. Every BlackJacks player scored and four scored in double figures.

Look for point guard Walt Lemon Jr. to continue his stellar play against the Rattlers. Lemon was making plays and dictating the offence in their previous meeting. He finished with a game-high 20 points and 10 assists.

His teammates Chad Posthumus (10 points, 10 rebounds), Jackson Rowe (19 points, four-of-five from three) and Tyrell Green (16 points, four rebounds) also had strong performances. Their leading scorer for the season Deng Adel only had three points but contributed with six rebounds and five assists. Adel figures to be a scoring threat in this game.

Ottawa shot the ball well that evening (53 per cent from field, 40 per cent from three) and had more rebounds, assists and steals than Saskatchewan.

The BlackJacks will look to continue that strong play as they have won two of their last three games. Their last game was a 96-88 loss to the Edmonton Stingers. They have clinched a spot in the CEBL Championship Weekend semi-finals while the Rattlers are still looking to clinch a playoff berth.

Saskatchewan (7-8) has done well at home (6-2 record) but is coming off an 81-74 loss to the league-leading Hamilton Honey Badgers. It was their fourth straight defeat as they made a second half comeback and played Hamilton close until the end.

The Rattlers have improved since losing to Ottawa and will rely on point guard Tony Carr to lead them. Carr is fifth in the CEBL in average points (19.9) and first in assists (6.0). Against Hamilton, he had 26 points, seven assists and shot four-for-four from beyond the arc in over 36 minutes on the court.

Forward Malik Benlevi and Scottie Lindsey also played over 30 minutes and made a notable impact. Benlevi scored 12 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Lindsey had 16 points and four rebounds. All three of them should be key players against Ottawa. Lindsey didn't play in their previous game against the BlackJacks.

The Rattlers are the best three-point shooting team in the league (39.0 per cent). Their deep shooting (46 per cent) helped keep the game close against Hamilton and should be important against Ottawa.

Saskatchewan has improved on turnovers since their game in Ottawa. They turned it over 23 times to the BlackJacks' 11 times as Ottawa scored 32 points off those turnovers. The Rattlers turned it over 10 times against Newfoundland and 15 times against Hamilton.

This game marks Saskatchewan's second-last home game of the regular season. The BlackJacks have three of their final four games at home.

All games will be streamed live internationally on the CEBL's OTT platform, CEBL+ and on CEBL Mobile the official app of the CEBL for iOS and Android devices. Games are also available to stream live in Canada via cbcsports.ca, the CBC Sports app for iOS and Android devices, and the free CBC Gem streaming service.

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.

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