Hot shooting Honey Badgers cruise past River Lions

No Quinndary Weatherspoon, no problem for the Brampton Honey Badgers.

Even without the services of their leading scorer, the home team managed to earn a wire-to-wire 91-66 win over the defending champion Niagara River Lions on Sunday afternoon.

It was the Honey Badgers’ first double-digit victory of the season and improved the squad to a winning 4-3 record at the CAA Centre this season, all while evening the regular-season series 1-1 in after the second of four matchups between the conference rivals. Meanwhile, the loss dropped Niagara into a tie with the Scarborough Shooting Stars atop the East standings and made it back-to-back defeats, both by double-digits.

David Muenkat led that charge as he finished with a season-high (and game-high) 24 points on 8-of-13 shooting and five made threes, capping his third consecutive game of scoring 20 or more. Behind him were the pair of Koby McEwen (19 points, 10 assists) and Amari Kelly (15 points, 12 rebounds), who chipped in double-double efforts. Rounding things out was Marcus Carr, scoring 13 of his 15 points in the final frame to go with eight assists on the night.

“I thought we were solid with our energy throughout the game,” Honey Badgers head coach Sheldon Cassimy said post-game. “There were some runs, at times when we might’ve gotten flustered, but I thought we were able to weather Niagara’s runs and play a full 40 minutes.”

On the other side, Ahmed Hill led the way with 13 points, the lone River Lions starter to shoot over 40 per cent from the field. Behind him was Khalil Ahmad with 10 points, nine rebounds, four assists and two steals. Meanwhile, Kimbal Mackenzie chipped in 12 points and five assists off the bench — spearheading a 29-9 edge in second-unit scoring, one of the few areas Niagara won on Sunday.

“We’re not a good team right now, we can’t make shots.” River Lions head coach Victor Raso said after his team finished 33 per cent from the field (21-of-63) and 17 per cent from distance (5-of-17). “Can’t make shots, can’t consistently get stops, we’ve just lost our confidence … it’s not good enough.”

It was clear as early as the opening frame that the Honey Badgers — after losing their first matchup of the season against the River Lions by 14 points — had revenge on their mind. And after carving out a 31-16 lead after 10 minutes of play, it’s safe to say some of that comeuppance was exacted.

Brampton earned that big early lead thanks to a lights-out shooting effort, using a 3-for-3 start from downtown to spark an 11-2 run. The Honey Badgers, not long after, took the game’s first double-digit lead on yet another deep make, Ali Sow hitting their fourth triple of the quarter.

“It was just about sharing the ball,” Cassimy explained of his team’s hot-shooting start. “We were giving up good shots to get great shots, getting into the paint and kicking the ball out, so it generated better team shots for us.”

The Honey Badgers ultimately went 7-for-8 from beyond the arc in the opening frame, more than they made in the entirety of their 14-point loss to the River Lions, and in stark contrast to the 8.1 they usually make per game, which ranked second-fewest. All the while, Niagara went 0-for-7 from distance in the first, underscoring what was a struggle scoring all around as the River Lions went just 3-for-15 (20 per cent) from the field.

“Disappointing,” Mackenzie said after the loss. “Not a good loss for us. Anytime you lose, it doesn’t feel good … they played better than us. It’s never just making (or missing) shots.”

That trend only continued in the second quarter despite the River Lions cutting the deficit down to 10 points on a Mackenzie triple at the 8:25 mark, just their first long-distance make of the game. The Honey Badgers responded immediately with a 10-0 run, ballooning their lead as high as 23 points en route to a 56-35 advantage at halftime.

Muenkat led that charge as he scored 12 of his game-high 17 halftime points in the second quarter, including Brampton’s final eight points going into the break. He shot 6-for-8 from the field and 4-of-5 from beyond the arc through 20 minutes.

The Honey Badgers ended up making a season-high 15 threes, two shy of their franchise’s all-time single-game mark, doing so on a 45 per cent clip.

The River Lions did build a bit of momentum toward the end of the third, however, capping off the quarter on an 8-2 while holding the Honey Badgers scoreless for the final two minutes to shrink their deficit to 16 points (67-51).

Although that effort was short-lived as Brampton outscored Niagara by seven points through the first six minutes of the final frame, pushing its lead to 82-59 headed into Target Score Time. Carr was in charge of that response as he scored the Honey Badgers' first eight points in the fourth quarter.

It was smooth sailing for the Honey Badgers from there, again, in part due to the Toronto native. He scored five of the necessary nine points for Brampton once the clocks stopped while Kelly bookended the effort with a pair of layups.

“We can play, we’re not a pushover team,” Muenkat said when asked what beating the defending champions proved. “I don’t think our record is a real representation of the kind of team we are.”

Up next for both teams

The Honey Badgers return Thursday to host the 8-4 Calgary Surge to wrap up a five-game homestand. Meanwhile, the River Lions head back to Niagara as they’ll host the 5-7 Winnipeg Sea Bears on Friday with hopes of putting an end to their skid.

Next CEBL action 

Sunday’s double-header wraps up with a cross-conference matchup between the visiting 7-5 Scarborough Shooting Stars and 6-6 Edmonton Stingers at 6 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. local.