The Newfoundland Growlers play their second game in Montréal, part of a three-game series between the Alliance and Growlers, at 4 p.m. ET.  Newfoundland and Montréal come in tied at 4-12. 

Newfoundland comes in now off back-to-back road wins and playing one more before they return home for the third match against the Alliance.  In their 94-71 win over the Alliance on July 22, Newfoundland won off of their rebounds and zone defence.

Newfoundland won the rebounding battle 43-35 coming from Nysier Brooks, Jermel Kennedy and Rowell Graham-Bell.  Brooks caused problems for the Alliance who played much of the game without Ashley Hamilton, and he used his size to create space around the rim for himself and his teammates.  Newfoundland shot 57 per cent from inside the arch and the spacing provided by their presence inside the paint and the defence being attracted to that, made their offence flow.

The Alliance found their success getting shots early in the shot clock.  Passing two times and taking a shot roughly 8-10 seconds into the shot clock, Montreal got to their spots quick and it came from Nathan Cayo and Hernst Laroche.  They will try and do the same in their rematch and find more success with their three-point shot to punish the Growlers zone defence.

Newfoundland’s shooters in Francis, Graham-Bell and Kennedy won the battle against Isiah Osborne, Kemy Osse and Laroche.  Going into this matchup, that will be another key area to determine which offence flows.  Montréal found their spots but were unable to get the shots to fall.  The Growlers defence holding the Alliance to 5-21 shooting from the perimeter helped their transition offence, and will help if they are able to duplicate the results in the rematch.

Cayo and Alain Louis were the two leading scorers for the Alliance.  Osborne’s attack offensively getting to his spots and hitting his shots has often been the x-factor for the Alliance, and they will need that to take a win over the Growlers and even the season series. 

Neither team had many turnovers in their first matchup, the Alliance with 14 and Growlers with 10, but the Growlers 29 points off of those 14 turnovers showed the efficiency of their fast-paced offence.  Newfoundland ranks third in steals per game with 8.6, and recording five in their last matchup, that will be something the Alliance will work against when they focus on taking care of the ball and making their passes to find open shots.

The Growlers and Alliance sit tied with this matchup and one more coming against each other to determine who will come out of the tie on top.

Fans will be able to live stream all games including the playoffs on the CEBL’s OTT streaming service CEBL+, the CEBL’s official app, CEBL Mobile for iOS and Android devices, cbcsports.ca, the free CBC Gem streaming service, the CBC Sports App for iOS and Android devices and on NXT Level Sports in the U.S. As part of its playoff coverage, CBC Sports will broadcast the quarterfinal games Sunday, August 7, semifinal games Friday, August 12, and the Championship game on Sunday, August 14. For the complete broadcast and streaming schedule, click here. All times are subject to change. 

The CEBL’s fourth regular season began May 25 and ends August 1. A league created by Canadians for Canadians, the CEBL is the largest pro sports league in the country with 10 teams located in six provinces. It 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.