Demetrius Denzel-Dyson cradled his arms as he hit a deep three-pointer midway through the second quarter. He knew this was going to be his game.
The Hamilton Honey Badgers defeated the Niagara River Lions 107-95 on Wednesday night. Demetrius Denzel-Dyson led the way with 24 points, getting some help from Ricky Tarrant Jr. and Justin Edwards, who scored 18 and 17 points respectively. On the other end of the court, despite fighting hard, Dorian Pinson’s 20-point performance wasn’t enough for the Niagara River Lions, who went home in defeat.
The game started off even-paced right from the tip off, with the Hamilton Honey Badgers going on a 7-5 run. However, a three pointer from Pinson got the ball rolling for the Niagara River Lions. An 11-4 run by Niagara shifted momentum their way in the middle of the first quarter, making them the favourites in this game right off the bat.
The Honey Badgers weren’t letting up so soon though. In the final few minutes of the quarter, the Honey Badgers willed themselves back into the game off some buckets by Denzel-Dyson, Tarrant Jr. and Sampson Carter, eventually tying the game and closing out the frame with a score of 25-25.
As soon as the second quarter started, the Hamilton Honey Badgers knew they had to regain dominance like they once had—and that’s exactly what they did. Led by Denzel-Dyson, who scored 14 points in the quarter, the Honey Badgers immediately went on an 8-0 run. Although the River Lions would try to make a dent in the Honey Badgers’ run, they couldn’t do much, as Hamilton went on another 9-1 run to extend the lead to 44-31 before a timeout was taken.
Both Tarrant Jr. and Denzel-Dyson continued to play lights out. Although Ryan Anderson and Pinson continued to chip away at the River Lions’ deficit, the damage had been done, as the first half concluded with the Honey Badgers leading 56-43.
For Niagara, one goal was clear heading into the second half—play strong and get back into this game. Hamilton however, had different plans.
The third quarter started out fast paced, with a quick basket from Ryan Ejim to get Hamilton going again. Although the River Lions would chip away at the Honey Badgers lead, getting within six points in the middle of the third would be the closest they would get during the frame.
Hamilton’s offensive force consisting of Tarrant Jr., Ejim and Edwards would prove to be too strong, extending the lead to 14 at another point.
A strong run by Niagara nearing the end of the quarter helped them regain their confidence, however the third quarter closed out with Hamilton leading by seven, for a score of 79-72.
This was it. The River Lions had 10 minutes to turn this game around after losing their dominance in the first quarter.
The fourth quarter started similar to the other, with the Honey Badgers getting on the board first. However, the River Lions quickly gained momentum, going on a 9-2 run to get within two shortly into the quarter.
For the next few minutes, the determined River Lions would flirt with a comeback, even coming as close as within one point midway into the quarter. However, that would be the closest they would get, as the Honey Badgers rediscovered the offence that got them so far, regaining their dominant lead to close out the game. By the time the buzzer signaled the end of the match, the score was 107-95 and the Honey Badgers were victorious.
With this win, the Hamilton Honey Badgers improve to 5-3 on the season. They will look to get another victory on Friday night in Edmonton, as they take on the Stingers. The Niagara River Lions on the other hand, pick up their second loss of the season and will look to bounce back at home on Friday night against the Guelph Nighthawks.
You can catch both those games on CEBL TV.
Written by Matthew Rodrigopulle