Vreeken comes off bench to power River Lions past Honey Badgers

Connor Vreeken came off the bench to score 14 points, and collect five rebounds and five assists as the Niagara River Lions defeated the Brampton Honey Badgers, 94-80, Sunday afternoon at Meridian Centre.

Vreeken finished an efficient 5-for-11 from the field and added a couple steals in a career-high 14 minutes of action.

The former Carleton Ravens star credits the River Lions (5-2) organization with preparing him for the moment.

“We have a really good coaching staff here. They put me in good positions in order to make plays and then my teammates put me into good spots,” he said. “So, it makes it pretty easy to make reads and then it's just about executing at the end of the day.”

Khalil Ahmad led all River Lions players with 22 points in 26 minutes, but was unable to finish the game as he was ejected, along with his Niagara teammate AJ Davis. Honey Badgers Koby McEwen and Amari Kelly were also ejected in the aftermath of a heated skirmish between both sides near the end of the third quarter.

Quinndary Weatherspoon scored a game-high 25 points in the loss for the Honey Badgers (1–7), who looked out of the game early after a 14–3 Niagara run in the first quarter effectively put it out of reach for Brampton.

The River Lions bombarded the Honey Badgers from three in the opening frame, going 6-of-13 from distance.

“We always wanna play fast,” said River Lions assistant coach Troy Stevenson. “We thought we had an advantage in transition against them this time so we were really looking to go a little bit earlier, but that that being said, we’re always looking to hunt good shots. Talk to him first and then if it happens to unveil itself like it did today, we’ll take them. We’re not afraid to take shots.”

Ahmad also become the first player in CEBL history to record 100 career steals with a couple in the first quarter.

Niagara carried a 53-35 lead into halftime and an 85-66 lead into Target Score Time. The Honey Badgers made a spirited run in Target Score Time, scoring 14 points while the clock was turned off, but couldn’t overcome the hole they dug themselves into.

The defending champion River Lions looked every part of it Sunday, but feel like there’s lots to work on moving ahead, so a Target Score Time like the one that occurred doesn’t happen again.

“I think it’s just putting 40 minutes together,” Stevenson said. “We have we have veteran guys, we have guys who know how to win, guys that are proven winners. It’s just a matter of putting all the pieces together and getting comfortable with each other, communicating on the defensive side, not being stagnant on the offence, being aggressive.

“So we’ve got the veterans, we’ve got the pieces and we’re gonna put it together. It’s just taking a little bit longer than we would like.”