The Hamilton Honey Badgers moved to 8-3 on Thursday Night when they defeated Guelph 95-76. Guelph is now 6-6 on the season. Hamilton has won five of their six home games so far this season.
The Honey Badgers opened the game on fire from the perimeter and that continued throughout the first quarter. Zane Waterman made the first three and Christian Vital answered to make it 6-2 before Jeremiah Tilmon Jr and Vital made It 11-4 Honey Badgers. Hamilton’s 47 per cent shooting and 5-10 clip from the perimeter put them in front in the first quarter. On the other side, Guelph found their success getting the ball to the hoop with Cat Barber and Aj Lawson. At the end of the first quarter, Hamilton led 27-14.
Hamilton’s three-point shooting continued in the second quarter as they pushed their percentage of threes made from 50 to 57 making eight of 14. Agada scored the first 13 points of the quarter for the Honey Badgers as they continued to push their lead out. After Agada went on a run to pace the Honey Badgers offence, Vital took over with seven of the next nine Honey Badgers points, interrupted by a dunk by Keevan Veinot. Guelph continued to get the ball inside with Lawson getting to the hoop and feeding the ball to Lucas Nogueira and Julian Roche.
Vital led the scoring at halftime with 20 points on 77 per cent shooting and three of four from the perimeter. Agada added 13 points on 62 per cent shooting. For Guelph, Barber led the team with 12 points, with Lawson adding eight. Hamilton held a 26-11 advantage on the boards and held Guelph to just a single offensive board. Leading the efforts on the boards for Hamilton was Tilmon, Waterman and Agada each with four rebounds. Hamilton’s eight offensive boards gave them 12 second chance points. Hamilton held a 60-29 lead at halftime.
Guelph started the third quarter with a Aj Hess three, and their three-point shooting continued throughout the first five minutes of the quarter with Barber adding a triple and Hess striking again. When Guelph cut the deficit to 19 thanks to a Nogueira dunk, Hamilton responded with Tilmon inside the paint to score the next four points for Hamilton and put them ahead 67-39. Guelph continued to answer Hamilton’s scoring chances with Barber and Lawson continuing to find the rim, but Hamilton’s ability to create good shots kept them in the lead throughout the third.
Martin Krampelj found his way to the free throw line in the third quarter shooting four free throws and putting him at 10 points on the game. Barber pushed himself to 18 points on the night with Lawson at 11. Going into the fourth quarter, Hamilton was in front 77-53 over the Nighthawks.
Guelph cut the deficit to 21, 78-57, very early in the fourth quarter thanks to Hill in transition scoring four points off of a defensive rebound and a steal. Following that, Guelph forced Hamilton turnovers and Barber scored five consecutive points to make it 82-62 with six minutes left in the quarter. Trading transition opportunities and getting to the free throw line, Guelph stayed at a 20-point deficit until a Barber free throw and a Oduro dunk sent the game into Elam time with Hamilton up 21. When the Elam buzzer sounded, Hamilton led 86-65 with the target score set at 95.
Hamilton and Guelph traded baskets in Elam time. Nogueira started the scoring at the rim followed by a Tilmon layup and Barber fade away jumper. With the score at 88-69 in favour of Hamilton, the Honey Badgers rebounding continued to benefit them as they denied Nighthawks second chances and got opportunities themselves putting shots back and getting to the free throw line. Tilmon grabbed his own rebound and got to the free throw line to add a point and put Hamilton five away from victory at 90. Another feed to Tilmon, this time from Vital put Hamilton at 92 and Roche put Guelph at 71. An Oduro free throw, Hill three-pointer and Tilmon jumper finished the game and Hamilton won 95-76 over the Guelph Nighthawks.
Vital led the Honey Badgers with 22 points on 50 per cent shooting, to go with three rebounds, six assists and a steal. Tilmon scored 17 points on 75 per cent shooting paired with six rebounds and an assist. Agada scored 13 points while Krampelj added 10 off the bench, Agada adding four rebounds, four assists and six steals with Krampelj contributing five rebounds and two assists.
Barber finished with 26 points for the Nighthawks to go with five rebounds, six assists and four steals. Lawson scored 13 points and added three rebounds and three assists. Hill scored 10 points to go with six rebounds and four steals.
Caleb Agada talked about the confidence his team came out with on offence especially shooting the ball from the perimeter, “we practice hard, we practice well. All our confidence in games comes from the good practices we have all week. We had great practices all week so we were locked in for game day and that’s exactly how we came out and shot the ball.”