CEBL Announces Honey Badgers Roster For Basketball Champions League Of Americas Competition

The Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL) announced the Brampton Honey Badgers roster Tuesday ahead of the first window of the Basketball Champions League Americas (BCLA) group stage action. The CEBL Champion Honey Badgers are scheduled to begin play Friday, December 9 when they meet host Libertadores de Queretaro of Mexico in Queretaro City at 9 p.m. Eastern time. They’ll take on Nicaraguan champions Real Estelí on December 10 at 9 p.m. Eastern time at the same venue. 

The BCLA brings together 12 teams representing seven countries from South and Central America along with Canada’s national champion competing over the course of four months to win a berth in the 2024 FIBA Intercontinental Cup, one of professional basketball’s most prestigious international competitions. 

Representing the Brampton Honey Badgers is a roster that is comprised of seven Canadians and four international players. All seven Canadians played on a CEBL roster this past season. Notable names include 2021 All-CEBL guard and Brampton native Alex Campbell (Vancouver Bandits) and Kitchener Ont. native Murphy Burnatowski (Vancouver Bandits) who were both part of the Edmonton Stingers BCLA roster this past season, as well as 6-foot-11 centre Jordy Tshimanga (Saskatchewan Rattlers), who averaged a team high 7.9 rebounds this past season and has NBA G League experience (four games played for the Cleveland Charge and Iowa 38 games played for Iowa Wolves).

The roster also includes Canadian Senior Men’s National Team members Javhon Blair (Newfoundland Growlers) and Jaylen Babb-Harrison (Niagara River Lions). Brampton native Blair played in the recent FIBA World Cup Qualifiers in Edmonton, AB where he scored 10 points in 14 minutes played against Panama to help the national team stay unbeaten (10-0) in the competition. Babb-Harrison, who ranked third in the CEBL in 3-point percentage in 2022 (43.0%), played in the recent FIBA Amer competition where Canada finished fourth. Brampton native Sean Miller-Moore was also named to the Honey Badgers BCLA roster. He last played for the Guelph Nighthawks, where he averaged a team high field goal percentage of 55.5.

The international players include Dominican Republic Senior Men’s National team member and Dominican/American guard Gelvis Solano, who has played 192 games as a professional across seven countries, Texas native Josh Ibarra, who averaged 12.1 points and 8.6 rebounds in 21 games played with Plateros De Fresnillo of the LNBP in Mexico in 2022-23, Jordan Williams, who averaged 19 points, 2.5 assists and 1.4 steals in 31 games played with Mineros de Zacatecas of the LNBP in 2022-23, and Bahamian forward David Nesbitt, who averaged 9.5 points and 5.5 rebounds in 233 games across Argentina, Brazil, and Kazakhstan. 

The full roster can be found here.

Similar to last year, the fourth season of the BCLA will consist of 12 teams from seven countries spread across four groups. The teams will play three games against each opponent in their group starting December 9. The remaining nine clubs are CR Flamengo, Minas, and Franca from Brazil, Instituto, Obras Basket, and A.A. Quimsa from Argentina, Club Biguá and Club Penarol from Uruguay, and Basket UdeC from Chile. At the end of the group stage the top two ranked teams in each group will advance into the quarterfinals and play in a best-of-three game series to determine the four teams that will qualify for the “Final 4”. The Final 4 will be played as single-elimination semifinals with winners advancing to the championship game and the semifinal losers playing for third place. The 2023 BCLA champion will earn a spot into the 2024 FIBA Intercontinental Cup. The Basketball Champions League Americas (BCLA) is the best continental league in the Americas. It’s created through an innovative partnership between FIBA, federations and leagues with 12 teams competing from the continent.

All games will be live streamed internationally on CEBL’s OTT platform, CEBL+ and on the CEBL Mobile, the official app of the CEBL.

The competition window hosted by Canada at the CAA Centre in Brampton and will begin February 7 when Brampton takes on Real Estelí. The two visiting teams, Real Estelí and Libertadores, will then face each other February 8, while the Honey Badgers play Libertadores on February 9. Fans are encouraged to take advantage of a 33% discount on game tickets as 3-game packs are now on sale for all three games. All tickets can be purchased via the link here.

A league created by Canadians for Canadians with a mission to develop Canadian players, coaches, sports executives and referees, the CEBL boasts the highest percentage of Canadian players of any pro league in the country with 71 percent of its 2022 rosters being Canadian. Players bring experience from the NBA, NBA G League, top international pro leagues, the Canadian National team program, and top NCAA programs as well as U Sports. Nine players have moved from the CEBL into the NBA following a CEBL season, and 28 CEBL players attended NBA G League training camps during October. The CEBL season runs May through August. More information about the CEBL is available at CEBL.ca and @cebleague on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, LinkedIn, Facebook & YouTube.