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Stingers, Honey Badgers Looking to Reach Round Robin Mid-Point with an Edge
A System Administrator • July 29, 2020
Heading into the CEBL Summer Series, Edmonton Stingers head coach and general manager Jermaine Small envisioned a scenario of multiple teams going through the round robin portion of the competition with a 3-3 record. If it’s true that team parity serves the best interests of a league, then the CEBL appears to have struck the right chord yet again. When Small’s Stingers (1-1) take on the Hamilton Honey Badgers (1-1) at 7 p.m. ET (5 p.m. MT) Wednesday one team will have the upper hand in the quest to finish among the top six during the six-game round robin that advance to the playoff bracket The loser will risk encountering a tight battle to avoid that dreaded seventh place finish that leads to a quick trip home.
Hamilton enters this game after dismantling rival Guelph, 87-61, on Monday, giving head coach Ryan Schmidt the first victory of his pro head coaching career. The Honey Badgers scored the first 10 points of the game and never looked back as their defense stifled Guelph for 40 minutes, forcing the Nighthawks to shoot just .294 from the field. Duane Notice was named Game MVP for his usual lockdown defense and 14 points and 7 assists at the offensive end. Hamilton had fallen to Niagara, 97-85, in the first game of the Summer Series.
Edmonton ran into a feisty Fraser Valley Bandits squad, now the lone team at 2-0 after defeating Saskatchewan last night, in their CEBL Summer Series opener and came away with a 113-100 loss on Sunday. Adika Peter-McNeilly came off the bench to lead six Stingers in double digit scoring with 18 points. The Stingers bounced back Monday evening with an 89-82 victory over winless Ottawa. Jordan Baker led the way with 20 points and 14 rebounds, and Xavier Moon added 24 points, to spark the victory. Edmonton took advantage of its muscle up front to score 42 points in the paint, a challenge the Honey Badgers will have to address Wednesday.
Wednesday’s matchup can be seen live on Twitch (CEBLeague), cbcsports.ca, and on the CBC Gem app. It will be the only game of the day on the docket for the CEBL Summer Series following four straight days of doubleheaders to begin play.
Summer Series Cumulative Stats
PPG FG-FGM FG% FT-FTM. FT% O-D-REB AST TO
Edmonton 94.5 69-144 .479 30- 36 .833 23-54-77 31 34
Hamilton 91.0 60-146. .411. 43- 55 .782 27-71-98 35 38
Head-to-head Scores from 2019
Hamilton defeated Edmonton, 106-83, in the first game in franchise history, May 12, 2019. The two teams halved the four-games series last season.
May 12 at Hamilton Hamilton 106, Edmonton 83
June 14 at Edmonton Hamilton 90, Edmonton 87
July 4 at Edmonton Edmonton 102, Hamilton 92
July 21 at Hamilton Edmonton 105, Hamilton 103
If It Ain’t Broke . . .
Edmonton returned the core of its highly successful 2019 team for this season, and that’s reflected by the Stingers having seven of their top 15 all-time leading scorers playing in the CEBL Summer Series. Travis Daniels (324 points/17.1ppg), Xavier Moon (289 points/19.3ppg), Jordan Baker (262 points/13.8ppg), and Adika Peter-McNeilly (230 points/12.1ppg) hold down the top four spots on the franchise list of most prolific scorers. Mathieu Kamba (160 points/8/4ppg) ranks 7th, Brody Clarke (56 points/7.0ppg) ranks 10th, and newcomer Mambi Diawara (18 points/9.0ppg) stands 14th on that list.
By contrast, Duane Notice moved into 10th on Hamilton’s all-time scoring list on Monday with 58 points (11.6ppg). The only other current players among Hamilton’s top 15 all-time scorers are Brianté Weber at 12th with 39 points (19.5ppg) and Owen Klassen 14th with 31 points (15.5ppg).
Next Up
It’s a holiday weekend in Ontario but there won’t be any rest for these two clubs. Both must deal with back-to-back games. Edmonton meets Niagara (1-2 following last night’s loss to Guelph) on Friday at 3 p.m. ET (1 p.m. MT), and Saskatchewan (1-1) on Saturday at 3:50 p.m. ET (1:50 p.m. MT). The showdown with the Rattlers is the second game of a nationally televised doubleheader on CBC. Hamilton’s weekend begins Saturday at 1:30 p.m. ET versus Fraser Valley in the first game of that doubleheader. The Honey Badgers get their first look at the still winless Ottawa Blackjacks on Sunday at 1:30 p.m. ET.