The final game of the CEBL Summer Series was a do-or-die, must-win affair for the Saskatchewan Rattlers. Standing between the 1-4 Rattlers and the tournament's final playoff spot was the 2-3 Ottawa Blackjacks team, who were themselves fighting for a quarterfinal spot. The Blackjacks are an expansion franchise, the logo of which depicts an Argus-eyed rabbit in mid-hop, following after the general pattern of CEBL logos, such as that of the Rattlers, which features an Argus-eyed rattlesnake, and that of the Niagara River Lions, which features an Argus-eyed lion, and that of the Hamilton Honey Badgers, which features an Argus-eyed badger, and that of the Guelph Nighthawks, which features an Argus-eyed American nightjar, and that of the Edmonton Stingers, which features an Argus-eyed vespine creature (the only exception is the Fraser Valley Bandits' logo, which features a rather gimlet-eyed fox). A Blackjacks win meant the Rattlers' defense of their 2019 championship would end not with a bang but with a whimper, and without even so much as a playoff appearance.
At the outset, the Rattlers looked eager to defend their crown, perhaps for the first time in the tournament. They came out of the starting blocks with the pedal to the floor, building a quick 8-0 lead on the strength of two threes from Kai Williams. The Rattlers couldn't keep their foot on the gas in the second, though, and Ottawa fought back to tie the game at 23, and then built up a lead from there. The Rattlers couldn't muster a basket until the five minute point of the second, and managed only 9 points in the full frame. Negus Webster-Chan was a microcosm for the Rattlers' impotent offense, going into halftime zero-for-ten from the field. As a whole, the Rattlers appeared too tired to penetrate the perimeter of the Blackjacks' defense. Their unforgiving schedule, with two instances of games on back-to-back days, was evidently taking its toll on the Rattlers. The score was 38-32 Ottawa going into the break.
The Rattlers looked altogether out of gas in the third. They made a plethora of unforced errors, and the Ottawa Blackjacks converted these into points. The Rattlers' offensive attack was just that—offensive, in that it offended most every fundamental basketball sensibility. The only highlight of this third quarter, at least from your correspondent's perspective, came when the CBC's audio feed started glitching severely, the commentary suddenly sounding like a reading of William S. Burroughs' cut-up fictions. Ottawa led 60-43 at the end of three frames, as the Rattlers had only scored 21 points in the second and third quarters combined.
The fourth quarter gave every indication that it would be the final quarter of the Rattlers' season. All throughout, Ottawa's lead hovered just over and just under twenty points. The Blackjacks' advantage likely would have well exceeded twenty had it not been for some flashes of brilliance from the Rattlers' Kemy Osse, who put down a few stirring baskets in the late going. Heading into Elam time, Ottawa led 78-59, making the target score 87. Mercifully, T.J. Lall sank the final three-pointer for Ottawa, giving them an 87-69 victory, putting them in the playoffs, and guaranteeing a new CEBL champion in 2020.
And so ended the Saskatchewan Rattlers' 2020 season, and with it their 2019 championship reign. The 2020 Rattlers will be remembered as a feckless, ragtag bunch, less a team than a motley collection of individuals adrift. Coach Chad Jacobsen failed to rouse, or even reel in, his charges, and these Rattlers played some very ugly basketball as a result. The Rattlers' Summer Series and their ouster therefrom was, in the end, in a word, unceremonious.
