June 4, 2023 – Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL) – Brampton Honey Badgers Press Release
The Brampton Honey Badgers (-103) head east to take on the Montreal Alliance (-133) from the Verdun Auditorium on Sunday at 4:00 pm ET.
The game will be available for live streaming on TSN+, CEBL+ powered by BetVictor and on the CEBL Mobile app available on iOS and Android devices.
This matchup will be the first of two games in four days between the Honey Badgers and the Alliance. The miniseries will switch venues and continue in Brampton on Wednesday, marking the second of three times the two teams have met this season.
Last year, Brampton (then Hamilton) and Montreal went head-to-head twice, with both games being won by the eventual champions, the Honey Badgers. In those contests, Brampton displayed his defensive prowess, holding Montreal to 72 points in both matchups. Their defensive success morphed directly into efficient offense as the Honey Badgers outscored Alliance from the field and distance in both games.
Brampton comes into this game after earning their first win of the season in a 75-71 win against the Winnipeg Sea Bears. The Honey Badgers trailed for most of the game, but rallied, riding a 12-4 run at Target Score Time to come out on top. Thanks in large part to Zane Waterman, who scored six of those 12 points en route to his 15 points of the night, his best performance of the season.
Both teams struggled from beyond the arc in the low-scoring affair, but the Honey Badgers made up for it by feasting in the paint. They shot 46 percent efficient from inside the arc and finished the night +18 on points inside the paint.
Brampton’s main weakness in that game was their inability to contain Winnipeg on the glass. They allowed 21 offensive rebounds and were -10 on the boards that night. That could end up being a factor in this game, as Montreal has two elite rebounders in Treveon Graham and Nathan Cayo. Graham currently averages 10 rebounds per game (5th in the league) while Cayo averages eight.
The Honey Badgers were led by Christian Vital’s 17 points, four rebounds and five assists in that game. The guard is currently averaging 25.7 points per game and is tied for first in the league with Scarborough’s Cat Barber.
Montreal comes into this game after suffering its first loss of the year by 89-75 against the Ottawa BlackJacks. Despite receiving contributions from several players, the Alliance was unable to slow down the BlackJacks offense as all five of Ottawa’s starters put up double figures. It also didn’t help that the Montreal bench contributed only three points and was -11 on the night.
The Alliance was outperformed in every quarter and never had an advantage on wire-to-wire loss. Their lead guard, Blake Francis, scored 18 points, but he did it on an ineffective 4-12 field goal. He also only had four assists in the game, indicating the team’s struggles to move the ball towards quality looks. Montreal is averaging five fewer assists per game than its opponents and was -10 against Ottawa in that last game.
They will need to move the ball better to generate enough offensive chances to get past Brampton and get back in the win column.
All games will also be streamed live internationally on CEBL’s OTT platform, CEBL+ powered by BetVictor, and on the CEBL mobile app for iOS and Android devices. Full list of betting accessories available at BetVictor.
A league created by Canadians for Canadians, the CEBL has the highest percentage of Canadian players of any professional league in the country, with 71 percent of its current rosters being Canadian. Players bring experience from the NBA, NBA G League, major international leagues, the Canadian National Team program and top NCAA programs, as well as U SPORTS. Canada Basketball’s only top division professional league partner. CEBL season runs from May to August. Head over to CEBL.ca to learn more or follow us (@cebleague) on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, LinkedIn, Facebook and YouTube.
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