ST. CATHARINES – The Guelph Nighthawks run at the Canadian Elite Basketball League's Summer Series cameto an end Thursday with a 83-75 loss to the Ottawa BlackJacks in the playoff quarter-final.
Shooting 50 per cent from the field, the BlackJacks were able to hold off the Nighthawks and will now face the number-one seed Edmonton Stingers in the semis on Saturday afternoon.
Ottawa held the NIghthawks to 36 per cent shooting from the field on the night.
Tre’Darius McCallum scored five of his 17 points on the night in the first quarter to fuel Guelph to a 25-21 lead after one quarter. The BlackJacks bounced back to take a 44-37 lead into the half.
The BlackJacks were led by team captain Olivier Hanlan with 19 points, six rebounds and four assists.
“For us to bounce back, I think was big for us and it goes to show that everyone had their moment,” said Berhaemeskel. “I feel like when you have three games in three days, everyone has to step up and I feel everyone did that. It was really cool to see.”
“I thought individuals got better and as a group to come together pretty fast, we did a pretty good job overall, so hats off to our guys”, said Nighthawks head coach and general manager, Charles Kissi. “The one thing I can’t say they didn’t do was play hard. We had some shots down the stretch that we didn’t make, but you know what, that’s the way the ball bounces sometimes.”
The Hamilton Honey Badgers meet the Fraser Valley Bandits in the other semifinal.
