Honey Badgers and Alliance face-off for second game in a row
The Montréal Alliance hit the road to take on the Brampton Honey Badgers in what will be their second matchup in four days. The game will tip-off at 11:00 am ET, earlier than usual, so the CAA centre can play host to a “school day” game for the local community.
The game will be available for streaming live on TSN+, CEBL+ powered by BetVictor, and on the CEBL Mobile app available on iOS and Android devices.
In their matchup last Sunday, Brampton took the convincing 94-82 win over Montréal. As a result of that game, both teams are now trending in opposite directions, with the Honey Badgers being on a two-game win streak while the Alliance have now lost two in a row.
There were a lot of positives in the wire-to-wire win for Brampton. Despite their best player in Christian Vital struggling on the night (11 points), the team got contributions elsewhere. Four other players scored in double figures, most notably Koby McEwen who scored 28 points on better than 50 per cent shooting from the field and distance.
Zane Waterman also added 18 points, going 4-6 from the beyond the arch. Marking his season-high in scoring and making it back-to-back performances where he’s raised that mark. The forward has made improvements with every game and it’s clear the coaching staff is rewarding him as a result. His minutes have increased every game, starting the season at 23, bumping up to 27 in their latest outing.
The Honey Badgers also had their best performance of the season from long-range. They came into the game averaging 8.7 threes a game on 30.7 per cent shooting. In their win against the Alliance, they had 17 makes on an efficient 41 per cent, with five different players knocked down two or more triples on the night.
On the other side, Montréal started the season strong by exceeding expectations and winning back-to-back games but have since regressed in their two-game losing skid. It doesn’t help that in their last game against the Honey Badgers, the Alliance lost their second leading scorer in Ahmed Hill (16 points per game) to injury in the third quarter.
The guard’s status heading into this one remains unclear, but there is some optimism surrounding a possible return in the rematch. After their previous game, Montréal’s head coach Derrick Alston said that “if it was a playoff game, he would’ve come back in.”
With the questions surrounding Hill’s availability, look for their latest addition in Marcus Ottey to take on an increased role. In his first game with the team, Ottey played 16 minutes, putting up a serviceable nine points, two rebounds and a steal. However, his will be a question mark going into this one, as he shot 37 per cent from the field and went 1-6 from distance. It may have been the growing pains of his first game with the team, but the Alliance will need more from him if they’re going to win in this matchup.
Another area the team has struggled in during their back-to-back losses is rebounding. Over the two-game stretch, they’ve been a -9 on the glass, giving up an average of 16 offensive boards. A direct consequence of the poor rebounding has been second chance points, as the Alliance have been a -7 in that category over that span.
Treveon Graham did his part for Montréal in the last game, as he grabbed 12 rebounds on route to his third double-double of the season. It was his frontcourt partner in Nathan Cayo who had an uncharacteristic night on the glass. Cayo came into the game averaging eight rebounds but was only able to grab four on the night. If Montréal are going to bounce back in the rebound battle, he’ll need to get back to his regular form.
Through all this, Blake Francis has continued to shine for the Alliance. He’ll enter this matchup as the third highest scorer in the league, averaging 24.3 points per game. In their last game against Brampton the lead guard dropped 25 points and four assists on 45 per cent shooting from the field. Again, with the possible lack of depth in the backcourt, Francis will be looked upon to provide even more than he already has.
All games will also be streamed live internationally on the CEBL’s OTT platform, CEBL+ powered by BetVictor, and on the CEBL Mobile app for iOS and Android devices. Full list of betting props available on BetVictor.
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