HAMILTON, ON – The Honey Badgers moved to 5-1 on the season after a 107-86 win over the Saskatchewan Rattlers who fall to 2-3.
The Honey Badgers didn't take long to get into their rhythm on defence and their attention to detail made the Rattlers struggle getting to the rim and push their offence out. Hamilton got out to a 11-4 lead through contesting Saskatchewan’s opportunities, and kept that margin throughout. Jeremiah Tilmon Jr. led the Honey Badgers in scoring with nine early points while Devonte Bandoo and Scottie Lindsey both scored eight. Hamilton led 29-21 after the first quarter.
Tony Carr scored four of the first seven points for the Rattlers entering the second quarter and the Rattlers cut their deficit to four at 32-28. The offence shifted towards the perimeter in the second quarter with ball movement taking more and more of a precedence. Caleb Agada and Bandoo both made three threes in the first half shooting 50 per cent with Lindsey making three at a 33 per cent clip.
Lindsey scored 9 points in the second quarter for Saskatchewan to put him at 17 points at halftime. Agada scored 11 points in the quarter for the Honey Badgers to put him at 14 points on the night. Helping the Honey Badgers shooting was their rebounding. Hamilton won the rebounding battle in the first half 22-14 with a 16-11 edge defensively and a 6-3 edge offensively, and off the rebound they looked for a quick outlet in Agada or Vital and got into their offence quickly.
The execution of the Honey Badgers off of their rebounding put them at a 51 per cent field goal percentage and 60 per cent from three at halftime, and gave them a 50-45 lead over Saskatchewan who shot 45 per cent from the field and 40 per cent from the perimeter.
Hamilton scored eight quick points to start the third quarter and push their lead to 13. Tilmon Jr, Vital and Agada sparked the Honey Badgers scoring and the efficiency of the first half picked up where it ended at half. Hamilton improved their three-point percentage to 63 three minutes into the quarter as they made 12 of 19 and the Honey Badgers led 61-46.
Hamilton doubled the third quarter points of the Rattlers six minutes into the quarter. Hamilton moved the ball around the perimeter while the Rattlers attacked the interior defence of the Honey Badgers and after the third quarter Hamilton led 71-62 over the Rattlers. Carr found his way to the line with his aggressiveness and got his point total to 18 at the end of the first quarter and was the primary factor for the Rattlers cutting their deficit to five by the end of the quarter. Lindsey led the Rattlers with 19 points going into the fourth. Agada’s perfect 4-4 shooting from the perimeter, 66 per cent shooting from the field gave him 21 points to lead the Honey Badgers at the end of the third, Tilmon Jr and Vital both had 11. At the end of the third quarter, Hamilton held a 71-66 lead.
The Rattlers continued to get to the line in the fourth and that became their primary way of scoring, getting their points through the first three minutes at the line. On the other end, Hamilton continued to be aggressive in getting their shots. Keevan Veinot and Koby Mcewen extended Hamilton’s lead to double-digits before a pair of Tilmon Jr low post opportunities got it to 85-71 Hamilton with 6:28 remaining in the fourth.
Tilmon and Vital pushed the Honey Badgers in the minutes leading up to Elam and Hamilton went into Elam time with a 97-82 lead, target score set at 106. Veinot started Elam with a three-point play to put the Honey Badgers at 100 and Waterman followed up with a dunk to put Hamilton four points away from victory. For the Rattlers, Malik Benlevi scored the last points before Elam time and the first points in Elam time as he got the Rattlers to 85 points. Tilmon Jr put the Honey Badgers within one with a jumper and a free throw, and Christian Vital got out in transition and finished at the hoop to give Hamilton the 107-86 victory.
Leading the scoring for Hamilton was Agada with 24 points to go with seven rebounds, 12 assists and a steal. Tilmon Jr shot 75 per cent from the field to finish with 22 points, 11 rebounds, one assist and one block. Vital scored 18 with eight rebounds, three assists and two steals while Veinot came off the bench for 14 points, two rebounds, two assists, one steal and a block.
Scottie Lindsey scored 23 points with two rebounds an assist and a steal. Bandoo scored 21, grabbed three rebounds, a pair of assists and steals. Carr finished with 20 points, five rebounds and eight assists.
Vital talked about the chemistry of the Honey Badgers that's growing on and off the court, “this locker room has 12, 14 guys, we have guys that aren’t even suiting up right now that can play, that help us in practice, we had one of the best camps that I’ve been a part of as a pro and as a basketball player, so I think it started there, this is a team, this is a real team, we got on each other in the locker room, we get on each other but it’s respectful and it’s understood, we’re all together, we all want to win.”
Honey Badgers Head Coach Ryan Schmidt talked about the flow of the offence following the win, “A lot of our offence is very conceptual, we have a lot of concepts based on when certain guys have the ball, where the screen action is coming from, the whole offence is predicated off of ball movement and passing, getting to the paint and making the extra pass. It’s going to take time.”