The Ottawa Blackjacks Season opener is one to forget for the club as they fall 99-83 to the Brampton Honey Badgers (2-0) Sunday evening.
After a tight start to the game, the Honey Badgers pulled away within the last two minutes with a 12-3 run and finished the quarter up 31-22.
The Blackjacks were able to cut the lead down to the three half way through the second quarter but the Honey Badgers went on a 11-6 run to end the half and lead 49-41.
3rd quarter was a tale of two runs, The Brampton Honey Badgers went on a 15-5 run in the first half of the quarter to give them a 20 point lead, the last five minutes, the Blackjacks went on a 16-5 run to end the 3rd quarter and bridge the gap to only nine points heading into the 4th quarter.
Heading into the 4th quarter, 71-62 the game was still up for grabs but the Honey Badgers came out on a 9-3 run to start the quarter and push the lead to 15. The Honey Badgers continue to press and headed into Elam time up 90-73. Blackjacks put up 9 points but the Honey Badgers needed 99.
The Blackjacks leading scorer was Brandon Sampson with 25 points on 50% shooting with 34:16 minutes, He also lead the team in three pointers going 4/9. Llyod Pandi who making his second stint in Ottawa had 14 points, team leading 8 rebounds and 6 steals.
There was a lot that went wrong for the Blackjacks tonight but the big one was their unwillingness to move the ball and drive to the paint when they started to trail. They put themselves into some bad looks and rushed too many possessions throwing up contested threes. When you only have 28 Points in the Paint and give up 10 more Free throw shots and 12 more points in the paint, it will be hard to win games.
Two starters that struggled this evening are James Jean-Marie, shooting 37% from the field and ending the game with only 8 points in 32:57 and Tyrrell Tate who shot 25% (2-8) from beyond the arc and ended the game with 4 fouls.
Ottawa has two days to fix the deficiencies as they host the Edmonton Stingers (1-0) Wednesday night at TD Place at 7:30pm