Hamilton Clinches Semi-Final Berth For 2022 CEBL Championship Weekend With 76-73 Win over Niagara

The Hamilton Honey Badgers clinched a semi-final berth for the 2022 CEBL Championship Weekend by defeating the Niagara River Lions 76-73 in Niagara.  Hamilton moves to 14-5 while the River Lions are 12-7.

Niagara started on fire from the perimeter and they created turnovers which extended their lead.  With Jaylen Babb-Harrison and Khalil Ahmad each hitting from beyond the arch, the River Lions went 3-5 from three, part of their 58 field goal percentage in the first quarter.  Hamilton battled on the boards and used their ball movement to get lanes to the rim but the rim protection of the River Lions who got two blocks in the opening quarter held the River Lions to 38 per cent shooting.  Niagara led the Honey Badgers 23-16 at the end of the first quarter.

Hamilton slowly pushed back on the River Lions lead, and they took a 30-29 lead halfway through the second quarter.  With Aaron Best and Jeremiah Tilmon Jr working around the paint and Agada hitting a three, the Honey Badgers established more of a rhythm offensively and made the latter half of the second quarter a shot for shot game.  Niagara used the quickness of Ahmad and Elijah Mitrou-Long to create separation off the dribble and that left their shooters open who continued to hit throughout the second quarter.  At halftime, the River Lions led 34-33.

Hamilton used their size and movement to get the ball inside the paint and they took back and never lost the lead for the remainder of the third.  With Tilmon working on the glass and Agada facilitating around the floor, Hamilton executed their offence through the quick hands of the River Lions.  Niagara kept their attack of using the dribble to get to spots for a kick out shot.  Niagara got a series of transition opportunities to cut the Honey Badgers lead to 47-42.  Keevan Veinot from beyond the arch stopped any River Lions run and upheld the Hamilton lead.  Going into the fourth, Hamilton led 53-46.

The River Lions transition game gave them a lot of their opportunities early in the fourth.  With the quick hands of Mitrou-Long and the outlet passes from inside the paint they worked down the floor quickly and kept the Honey Badgers defence in motion.  Hamilton kept their lead close to 10 points throughout the early parts of the quarter but as Niagara chained together stops and fast break opportunities for Antonio Davis Jr they brought the game to a 65-61 Hamilton lead with 4:40 remaining.  Davis got himself to the free throw line at the Elam time buzzer and the River Lions took a 67-65 lead, target score set at 76.

Agada on a second chance opportunity tied the game at 67 and a free throw put the Honey Badgers back up 68-67.  Mitrou-Long hit a step back jumper on the following possession and Nikola Djogo came back with a three, the score 71-69 Hamilton.  A free throw from Davis followed by a feed inside to Tilmon put the Honey Badgers up three and Mitrou-Long tied it right back up at 73.  Both teams three points away from victory.  Best, fouled on a three-point attempt, made two of three at the line and put Hamilton at 75 with the River Lions at 73.  Martin Krampelj with a steal led to Best making a free throw after getting fouled in transition, Hamilton securing the 76-73 win.

Best finished with 22 points for the Honey Badgers along with four rebounds.  Tilmon got himself 12 points and secured nine rebounds to go with three assists, two steals and a block.  McEwen finished with 10 points, three rebounds, five assists and three steals to round out the Honey Badgers in double-digits.

Davis finished with 21 points, three rebounds, two assists and a steal to lead the River Lions.  Ahmad scored 12 points to go with three rebounds, two assists and a steal. 



Hamilton Honey Badgers Head Coach Ryan Schmidt talked about the play of Caleb Agada, “I thought he was really good, Caleb throughout the entire season for the most part he really does a lot of everything for us, I think tonight, obviously we really changed things up, bringing Koby off the bench, he’s been playing incredible, we needed that punch to strengthen our bench scoring so we challenged Caleb to run the show early on and get the guys going and I thought he did a fantastic job.  There’s not many nights you look at the box score after the game that we win and Caleb Agada has eight points, but again I think he was plus 14, the highest on our team, the guy impacts the game in all areas.”