HONEY BADGERS FALL TO LIBERTADORES 99-83 IN FIRST EVER BCLA GAME
Brampton Honey Badgers play Real Estelí in their second group stage game December 10
The Brampton Honey Badgers of the CEBL fell to Libertadores De Queretaro 99-83 in Brampton’s first-ever game at the Basketball Champions League Americas in Queretaro, Mexico on Friday.
Jordan Williams had 18 points and Joshua Ibarra added 16 (making 7-of-9 attempts) in the loss for Brampton while Ismael Romero led all scorers with 26 points on 11-for-14 field goals for Libertadores. Javhon Henry-Blair and Gelvis Solano scored 10 points apiece for the Honey Badgers, while Stefan Smith added 11 points. Javier Mojica and Branden Frazier had 14 points apiece for Libertadores.
Romero opened the game on fire, scoring the first 10 points of the game himself as Libertadores led 13-0 before Solano snapped their run with a dunk to get the Honey Badgers on the board. After a layup from Williams and then a jumper from Ibarra, Brampton was within six, 16-10, as Libertadores called timeout with 2:47 remaining in the quarter.
Out of the timeout, Libertadores went on an 8-0 run to extend the lead to 14, before Smith hit a three for the Honey Badgers with 14 seconds remaining in the quarter. After a jumper from Frazier with seven seconds remaining in the quarter, Libertadores led 26-13 in the opening 10 minutes.
The slow start would plague the Honey Badgers throughout the rest of the game as they simply couldn’t overcome that early deficit. Brampton kept pace with Libertadores the rest of the way through and were only outscored by three, 73-70, over the final three quarters.
While Brampton shot 38 percent from the floor, Libertadores connected on 55 percent of its field goal attempts, helping to make up for an 11-for-21 performance at the line. The Honey Badgers crashed the offensive glass and held a 17-10 edge in offensive rebounding, but that wasn’t enough to overcome those early shooting woes.
The second quarter was an even affair, with each team scoring 21 points as Libertadores held onto a 13-point lead at the half, 47-34.
Libertadores shot 55 percent in the half, compared to just 37 percent shooting for Brampton, percentages that held throughout the game.
The teams traded baskets to open the third quarter before Henry-Blair hit a three-pointer to get the Honey Badgers within 12. After a dunk from Ibarra, Brampton was within 10 with 7:51 remaining in the third, but Libertadores reeled off a 14-5 run to go ahead 65-46 before the Honey Badgers called timeout with 4:37 remaining in the third.
A pair of free throws, followed by a layup from Solano, trimmed the lead to 15 points with four minutes remaining in the quarter, but Brampton couldn’t slow Libertadores and went into the final quarter trailing 71-54.
Libertadores scored first to open the final frame, but the Honey Badgers responded with nine straight points to force Libertadores into a timeout with 8:22 remaining and their lead down to 10. Henry-Blair drilled a three-pointer to start the run and a layup from Smith brought Brampton within 10 to force the timeout. Romero and Gutierrez scored on back-to-back possessions for Libertadores out of the timeout before Smith connected on another jumper to keep the Honey Badgers within 12. After the two teams traded three-pointers, a steal and score from Smith got Brampton back within 10 again, but this time Libertadores scored six straight to build the lead back to 16 and force Brampton into a timeout with 5:08 remaining.
After a layup for Mojica, Libertadores had its largest lead of the game at 20 points with 3:15 remaining and they went on to victory from there.
The Honey Badgers won’t have to wait long to get another shot at getting in the wins column in the group stage. They will face Real Estelí on Saturday, December 10 at 9 p.m. ET. Fans can catch all of the action live on the CEBL Mobile app and on plus.CEBL.ca.
