The Brampton Honey Badgers continue fighting to hopefully clinch a playoff spot
The Brampton Honey Badgers (6-10) have been on a rollercoaster ride this CEBL season. They started the season as the underdogs being ranked last in the power rankings, and being the team most counted out. This seems to have given them motivation, as they were able to win their two opening games in front of an electric home crowd. However, the Honey Badgers hit a slump when they went on to lose the next seven games straight.
Regardless of the losses, the Honey Badgers who are known for their fight and determination to not give up, came up to win their ninth game with a 85-79 victory over the Montreal Alliance. The Badgers then went on a 3-game winning streak, one of those wins being against their GTA rivals the Scarborough Shooting Stars at home. The Honey Badgers were able to show why they are the comeback team, as they outscored the Shooting Stars during target time to get a 98-96 win giving their fans a memorable game where Elijah Mitrou-Long scored 20 points in the second half, including the winning basket. However, the Badgers fell back into a two-game losing streak not long after
Currently, the Honey Badgers are fighting for an Eastern Conference playoff spot. They were tied with the Ottawa BlackJacks in the standings but dropped to fourth in the east, as Ottawa was able to secure a win over the Alliance and move past them. With the Alliance earning an automatic bid to the CEBL Championship Weekend as hosts, the Honey Badgers and all other Eastern Conference playoff teams, want to also join Montreal in big dance.
With only four regular-season games left for the Honey Badgers, they look for a much-needed win in their next game on July 17th against the Niagara River Lions, followed by the highly anticipated game against the Scarborough Shooting Stars on July 20th. The rivals have met three times during the season where the Shooting Stars lead the series 2-1. The Honey Badgers will look to tie things at 2-2 this weekend.
Despite being the underdogs, the Honey Badgers have a squad full of talent from 6’5” guard LJ Thorpe, 6’8” forward Zane Waterman and 6’6” forward Shamiel Stevenson. All top players on the team, all having memorable season moments. Waterman tied a franchise record with seven three-pointers made, as well as reaching 250 career CEBL rebounds. Shamiel Stevenson was highlighted in the CEBL mid-season awards for something he is known for, one of his huge dunks, which was poster-worthy. Brampton recently added Brandon McCoy who comes with experience from the NBA G-League to their roster.
One thing the Honey Badgers, led by Head Coach Sheldon Cassimy are known for is their heart. They play with confidence despite their odds and continue to battle their way through the schedule. In their last four regular-season games, all eyes are on them to see if they can silence all the doubters once again and clinch a playoff spot.
You can keep up with the Brampton Honey Badgers at www.bramptonhoneybadgers.ca and on Instagram @honeybadgerscan. You can purchase tickets through their website as well as on Ticketmaster. You can also keep up with everything CEBL at cebl.ca and watch the games live on the CEBL app; of course, you can keep up with all things basketball at onpointbasketball.com and on Instagram at @onpointbasketball
Notes: At the time of publishing this story, the Honey Badgers fell to the league-leading Niagara RIver Lions 80-71, to drop to 6-11 on the season. The River Lions improve to 13-5 to continue to lead the east by three games over second place Scarborough.
Photo courtesy Brampton Honey Badgers
