Edmonton Stingers Dominate Defensively in 103-77 Win Versus Brampton Honey Badgers

Nick Hornsby’s near triple-double led the visiting Edmonton Stingers (5-4) to a wire-to-wire 103-77 win over the Brampton Honey Badgers (5-5) on Friday night.

On the second night of a back-to-back, he finished the game with 18 points, a season-high 15 rebounds, and eight assists on route to his third consecutive double-double.

The 103 points were the most the Stingers have scored this season and joining Hornsby in setting that mark was Isiah Osborne who notched a team-high 19 points on 7-13 shooting, while knocking four triples. Martynas Varnas got in on the action as well with 14 points and five assists off the bench.

“We’re not reliant on a star player scoring 25 a night to be successful,” said Stingers’ head coach Jordan Baker on this win being a total team effort. “One of our main guy’s Brody Clarke [team’s leading scorer] had eight tonight and we put up 103 points.”

Christian Vital led the way for the Brampton Honey Badgers in the loss via his 20 points on 53 per cent shooting and three assists. Prince Oduro had an impressive night as well, scoring 16 points on an efficient 70 per cent from the field and grabbing seven rebounds.

Vital’s usual scoring partner Koby McEwen struggled mightily as he finished with just two points – which didn’t come until Target Score Time – on 1-11 shooting, four rebounds, and six assists.

A bit of history was made early in this game as Brampton’s McEwen lasered an outlet pass to a running Vital who finished the play by laying in the night’s first basket. Those two points set a new Honey Badgers franchise record for points all-time as Vital (now at 442) surpassed the 423 mark previously set by Ricky Tarant Jr.

“Definitely grateful and appreciative for the opportunity,” said Vital as he reflected on the milestone after the game. “Doesn’t mean much when you lose though…definitely appreciative for my teammates, for staffs I’ve been with for putting me in this situation.”

Edmonton didn’t seem too interested in the guard’s milestone moment as they took over the rest of the frame on the heels of a fiery start by Osborne. The forward scored nine points in the first, knocking down two triples, with his only miss coming from the line. He came into the night averaging 11.2 points per game and nearly surpassed that mark in the first five minutes of action as his team took a 12-2 run and turned it into an 18-9 lead.

The Stingers weren’t done there as they extended that lead to as many as 13 points by way of their aggressive play around the glass. The team finished the frame +4 on rebounds, grabbing five on the offensive end to Brampton’s one, earning a 28-19 lead going into the second.

Despite the strong start, some of Edmonton’s struggles from a night ago when they faced the Scarborough Shooting Stars seemed to be creeping into this contest. In that last game, the Stingers held an early 13-point lead that they ultimately let slip away on route to a loss.

This game felt like it was about to take a similar turn as the Honey Badgers by way of an early 5-0 run had the lead down to just four points midway through the second. However, unlike that last game, the Stingers found a response, and it was by way of the long ball. The squad splashed three straight treys at one point as part of a 13-2 run that gave them back their double-digit lead.

“Last night we struggled finishing possession,” said Edmonton head coach Jordan Baker. “Tonight we really made that a point of emphasis finishing those possessions...guys have been key for us defensively and that sparked our offense.”

Edmonton came into the night shooting 32.1 per cent from distance but didn’t seem to know that as they went a lights-out 50 per cent from beyond the arch through the first half. The seven triples they drained helped the team take a 45-30 lead – the biggest of the ball game so far – into the break.

That margin only got larger throughout the third as the Stingers continued to dominate the glass with a +10 advantage on offensive boards alone. The team matched their 41.5 rebounds per game before the third period was even over, and their efforts securing the ball got them nine extra possessions to that point and a comfortable 51-77 lead going into the fourth.

Brampton tried to fight back throughout the following period but could not get anything to go their way. It didn’t help that their big man in Jeremiah Tilmon fouled-out of the game at the 6:22 mark. The team already came into the contest feeling shallow with the likes of Zane Waterman not available, so losing another starter didn’t help that situation.

A 27-point deficit is what the Honey Badgers faced as they went into Target Score Time. The task to comeback – seemingly improbable – did have some precedence to work off of. The Stingers are the team that gave up a CEBL record 16-point comeback to the Calgary Surge earlier this season.

That thought was squashed rather quickly however, as Edmonton’s Elijah Miller became the closer down the stretch. He scored seven of his 13 points, in the fourth quarter and Target Score Time, including the final two baskets of the game. The guard drove in a layup and then quickly followed it up by knocking down a triple to put an end to the contest and any hopes of a Brampton comeback, 103-77 the final.

The Stingers are now winners in four out of their last five games and have turned around their season. After a 1-3 start the team is now tied with Calgary for second in the West and a game-and-a-half back of the leading Winnipeg Sea Bears.

During this stretch, it’s been Edmonton’s suffocating defense that has played a major part. The squad has limited their opponents to 80 points or less, even more impressive considering they’ve done it against some of the best offenses in the league. They limited the second and fourth highest scoring teams in Winnipeg and now Brampton, to 68 and 77 points respectively.

On the other side, the Honey Badgers have now lost three of their last four games, each of which were by 20 or more points. The team was in a three-way tie for first in the East with Scarborough and Niagara, but the loss brings them down a spot, half a game behind those squads.

“We’ve been playing a kind of Dr. Jeykll and Mr. Hyde type of play,” said Brampton head coach Antoine Broxsie. “One day we look well and another day we don’t look as good. We have to find some continuity…the good thing is we know it’s there, we just have to maintain it.”

Brampton will look to bounce back on Tuesday when they head to the nation’s capital to face the Ottawa BlackJacks, while Edmonton finishes up a three-game road trip on Sunday when they take on the Montréal Alliance.

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