Alliance Claim Commanding Win in School Day Matchup Against Honey Badgers

It’s safe to say the Montreal Alliance (2-0) enjoy playing the Brampton Honey Badgers (0-6) this year.

In the second of three regular-season matchups between the East rivals, the visiting Alliance walked away with a convincing 92-71 win over the Honey Badgers in Brampton.

Montreal’s two wins this season have both come against Brampton, doing so by an average margin of 21.5 points. Wednesday's win was just one point shy of the franchise’s largest victory set against the same Honey Badgers in the Alliance’s season-opener last month.

Anthony Walker led that charge, finishing with a game-high 25 points on 9-of-15 shooting and seven rebounds. Right behind him was captain Quincy Guerrier as the Montreal native chipped in 14 points, six of which came in Target Score Time. Meanwhile, Dontay Bassett and Tavian Dunn-Martin off the bench (in his CEBL debut), each scored 13 points, respectively.

“I’m proud of our guys,” Alliance head coach Jermaine Small said after the win. “We had a bit of a slow start, but our depth showed, and you know what, a win on the road is a win on the road.”

On the other side, Quinndary Weatherspoon spearheaded Brampton’s effort, putting up a team-high 24 points. The Honey Badgers’ leading scorer struggled efficiency-wise, however, shooting 7-of-17 with three turnovers. Koby McEwen (15 points) and David Muenkat (10 points, six turnovers) rounded out Brampton’s double-digit scorers for the day.

“We didn’t play together,” Honey Badgers head coach Sheldon Cassimy said after the loss. “Things aren’t going perfectly and we’re crumbling right now. We’re frustrated, which is normal during a losing streak, but it’s going to take some mental toughness to figure that out.”

The Honey Badgers entered Wednesday’s contest giving up the most points on average this season (94.4). But clearly they didn’t get that memo, as Brampton's defence did the heavy lifting early on and held Montreal to just 6-of-17 shooting through 10 minutes.

Yet despite those efforts earning an early 9-0 run, Brampton wasn’t able to capitalize thanks to some self-inflicted errors. The Honey Badgers gave the ball away five times — a recurring theme as Brampton entered the game averaging a league-high 18.6 turnovers per game — and went into the second quarter trailing 19-16.

“That’s our identity this season,” Guerrier said post-game. “Brampton came out and punched us, that woke us up … by being physical and communicating, we were able to get the win.”

Montreal’s momentum only continued from there, as they opened the second with back-to-back threes, the first of which was made by Walker, who finished the half with 13 points on a perfect 3-for-3 from distance. The pair of triples extended the Alliance’s run to 15-0, spanning back to the end of the first.

From there, Montreal led by as many as 14 points through the first 20 minutes en route to a 46-34 advantage at the break. That margin was built largely thanks to some impressive ball movement (16 first-half assists), which led to high-quality looks (20 points in the paint).

The Alliance entered the game averaging the most assists per game (26.0) and showed why, finishing with 28 — three shy of their franchise record — on Wednesday on just eight turnovers.

“I give a lot of credit to our guys,” Small said. “These guys are very unselfish, sometimes too unselfish, but 28 assists, that speaks volumes to how connected we are.”

And speaking of turnovers, they continued to cost the Honey Badgers even after the break. Brampton finished the game with 19 giveaways and ultimately conceded a 25-7 edge on points from turnovers.

That trend, which included four Honey Badger miscues in the third, had them down 75-56 after thirty minutes.

And although Brampton chipped into the deficit ahead of Target Score Time, down 82-67, the margin didn’t get any closer as the Honey Badgers were outscored 10-4 to close the ball game.

That winning stretch included back-to-back triples from Guerrier, which brought Montreal’s total to a franchise-record tying 15 made threes for the game. Michael Diggins Jr. then capped off the festivities, blowing by his defender and rising for a rim-rocking dunk.

Box Score

https://www.cebl.ca/game?id=2600595

Up next

Both teams return to action on Friday for the CEBL’s first-ever five-game night. The Alliance head back to Montreal as they prepare to take on the 2-4 Edmonton Stingers, while the Honey Badgers stay put in Brampton to host the 1-4 Winnipeg Sea Bears.

Next CEBL action

Tipping off Friday’s busy slate, which’ll see all 10 teams in action, are the undefeated Scarborough Shootings (3-0) and the defending champion Niagara River Lions (3-2) from the Meridian Centre at 7:00 p.m. ET.

For the full 2025 CEBL schedule and up-to-date results, please visitcebl.ca/games.

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