Honey Badgers Win First Game With Target Score Rally vs. Sea Bears

Both squads entered Brampton amid skids, but only the Honey Badgers (1-6) left with a much-needed notch in the win column.

They made sure of it by picking up an 81-74 comeback victory over the Winnipeg Sea Bears (1-5) at the CAA Centre on Friday.

It was an entire team effort for Brampton in order to get its first win and put its franchise-worst 0-

6 start to bed. Four different players finished in double digits for points, led by Koby McEwen’s game-high 23. Behind him was Quinndary Weatherspoon, who finished with 17 points in 21 minutes on 50 per cent shooting from the field and three-point line. Meanwhile, Amari Kelly chipped in 11 points and nine rebounds while David Muenkat scored 10, including the game-winner in Target Score Time.

“We’ve been talking about playing together the entire time,” Honey Badgers head coach Sheldon Cassimy said after the win. “I thought we did a way better job sticking together through adversity, ups and downs of the game. We got through that … I definitely feel like we’re in the right direction.”

An impressive victory in and of itself was accentuated by the absence of Weatherspoon, who didn’t play the entire fourth quarter after he was disqualified following a second technical foul. Yet despite missing the league’s eight-best scorer (20.4 points per game) and trailing the entire fourth until Target Time, the Honey Badgers showed a resolve not previously seen until Friday.

“Maybe in the past, we might have crumbled,” Cassimy said on Brampton’s comeback without its leading scorer. “(But) we’re more together as a group now, we’ve talked some things out and we’re building our chemistry together, so we were able to rally and get through adversity."

On the other side, the Sea Bears have now lost five straight and remain winless on the road. That was even with the addition of Jalen Harris, who finished with a team-high 17 points to go with four rebounds and six assists in his Sea Bears debut. And despite the loss, it didn’t take long for the two-time All-CEBL guard to reach another milestone just one game into his fourth season. With his first helper of the night, Harris became just the 50th player in league history to reach 100 total assists (regular season only).

A majority of Winnipeg’s production beyond that came from its second unit. The trio of Emmanuel Akot, Terry Roberts and Nathan Bilamu put up 13, 12 and 11 points, respectively, as the Sea Bears won the bench-scoring battle 39-16.

“Had the lead going into Target Score Time, but we did not finish our plays. Give credit to Brampton,” Sea Bears head coach and general manager Mike Taylor said post-game.

“It was a hard-fought game, both teams really wanted to get the win … We got great bench production for our team, put ourselves where we needed to be, but we got to do a better job finishing the game.”

While all eyes were on Harris early — fair, considering he set the CEBL’s single-game scoring record of 45 points just last year and scored five of Winnipeg’s first nine points on Friday, including a deep-triple on his very first attempt — it was Brampton that carved out an early advantage.

“Played with such poise and helped us organize the game,” Taylor said of Harris’ Sea Bears debut. “There’s lots of potential there … really excited to have him.”

The Honey Badgers took their first lead of the ball game on a Muenkat three midway through the first and held on to a 22-21 edge to end the opening frame. Leading that effort was McEwen, who scored eight of his 16 first-half points in the quarter, including a 2-of-3 start from downtown.

Brampton built on that margin throughout the second, largely thanks to its rim pressure, finishing the first half with 18 paint points (plus-eight). Part of that effort was their dominance on the glass, earning a 24-11 first-half rebounding edge. Seven of those boards came on the offensive end (plus-six) for 11 unanswered second-chance points.

“We did a good job controlling the glass,” McEwen said post-game. “We got out and ran a little bit more, and there was just more flow and pace to our offence … there was no choice but to get that win.”

It was an inspired effort in stark contrast to their usual rebounding woes — the Honey Badgers entered Friday ranked last for total (34.7) and offensive (8.5) boards. They would go on to finish the game a plus-18 on the glass and plus-14 for second-chance points thanks to a 14-8 edge for offensive rebounds.

“Definitely an emphasis,” Cassimy said on the Honey Badgers’ rebounding effort on Friday. “We’re continuing to get better … hopefully that’s something we see every game from now on. Being relentless on the offensive glass and finding other opportunities to score.”

All of which should have been enough for Brampton to hold onto a seven-point lead it carved out in the opening half, had it not been for Winnipeg’s lights-out shooting. The Sea Bears shot 8-of-15 (53 per cent) from beyond the arc through the first 20 minutes and it allowed them to end the second quarter on a 7-2 run and knot the score at 45-45 going into the break.

Winnipeg’s hot start was a bucking of a trend as well, entering the evening ranked last in three-point percentage (25.7) despite averaging the second-most attempts (35.8) from distance.

And although that well did run dry for much of the third quarter — the Sea Bears missed their first eight shots from deep in the frame — the one that dropped proved the difference maker. With six seconds left in the period, Akot nailed his third of five triples on the night and gave Winnipeg a three-point lead (63-60) headed into the fourth.

The Sea Bears held onto the lead into Target Score Time, up 71-67, before the Honey Badgers' relentless pressure returned and paid major dividends.

Brampton’s effort to get to the rim not only led to back-to-back layups to start Target Time, but it quickly got the team into the bonus. The Honey Badgers ended up shooting 32 free throws (plus-17) on the night, none more important than the final five they hit while outscoring the Sea Bears 14-2 to end the game.

McEwen grabbed a loose ball and nailed an acrobatic putback before finishing off the and-one play at the charity stripe, and then Muenkat nailed two freebies of his own prior to his game-winning triple.

“Basketball is a next-man-up sport,” Muenkat said during his on-court post-game interview. “This is a step in the right direction for us, this is the brand of basketball we want to play for the rest of the season … hopefully we can continue on this kind of momentum.”

Box Score

https://www.cebl.ca/game?id=2600601

Up next

The Sea Bears will get no time to dwell on the loss, as they visit Scarborough on Saturday to take on the 3-1 Shooting Stars following their first loss. Meanwhile, the Honey Badgers return Sunday, facing the defending champion River Lions (4-2) in Niagara for the first of four regular-season meetings.

Next CEBL action

The CEBL’s first-ever five-game slate continues on Friday, with three more games to wrap up the action. The 2-0 Montreal Alliance host the 2-4 Edmonton Stingers at 8 p.m. ET, followed by the 5-1 Calgary Surge welcoming the 1-4 Saskatchewan Rattlers for their first matchup this year at 9:30 p.m. ET (7:30 p.m. local). Wrapping up the festivities will be the 5-1 Vancouver Bandits and the 2-2 Ottawa BlackJacks at 10 p.m. ET (7 p.m. local).

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

- CEBL -