Niagara Hosts Honey Badgers in First of Two Game Series

The Niagara River Lions host the Hamilton Honey Badgers at 7 p.m. ET in the first of a two game series between the one and two seeds in the standings.  The Honey Badgers sit at 13-5 with the River Lions 12-6.

This is the first time these two teams are matching up, and the stakes are high.  Both the Honey Badgers and River Lions are coming off two straight losses and want to bounce back and secure the top seed when playoffs begin.  The River Lions rank first in points per game with 89.3 and much of it comes from Khalil Ahmad, the leading scorer with 21.6 points per game.  In the River Lions 95-86 loss to the Fraser Valley Bandits on July 25, Ahmad scored 22 points and assisted on seven baskets.

His opponent across the floor is Caleb Agada, and his 5.4 assists per game contribute to the Honey Badgers movement offence that ranks third with 18.7 assists per game.  Alongside Christian Vital and Koby McEwen, the Honey Badgers move the ball around until they can find their spots to get shots, and they control the boards with their 37.3 rebounds per game.

The rebounding of the Honey Badgers will go against the half-court defence of the River Lions, and leading those efforts is the quick hands of the River Lions guards and the solid play of the Honey Badgers half-court defence.  Daniel Waldin-Mullings ranks first in steals per game at 2.1, and he showed that recording four steals in the loss to the Bandits.

The solid interior defence of the Honey Badgers in Jeremiah Tilmon Jr and Zane Waterman goes against the shot blocking of TIdjan Keita and Ej Onu.  Onu recorded three blocks in the game against the Bandits and Keita gives a lot of size inside the paint.  Disrupting the Honey Badgers ball movement, Ahmad gets it out in transition for the River Lions shooters.

On the perimeter, Nikola Djogo and Vital go against Jaylen Babb-Harrison and Antonio Davis Jr.  Djogo and Vital combined for 12 three-point attempts in the Honey Badgers 104-95 loss to the BlackJacks, while Babb-Harrison and Davis combined for nine attempts in the River Lions loss to Fraser Valley. 



The River Lions disrupt their opponents’ offence, and the Honey Badgers offence predicates on ball movement.  Whether the Honey Badgers can execute through the quick hands of the River Lions will show the success they’ll have on offence.  The Honey Badgers edge comes inside the paint on the boards.  Going against the shot blocking and team rebounding of the River Lions, Tilmon and Waterman are very effective on the glass and can give the Honey Badgers second chance opportunities for kick out Vital threes or Elijah Mitrou-Long jumpers.

The River Lions can tie the Honey Badgers with a win, while the Honey Badgers can further secure themselves in the top spot going home for the rematch on Sunday.

See the full league standings here: https://www.cebl.ca/standings

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.