Matthew Winick
Lindell Wigginton scored seven of his game-high 20 points in the Elam Ending, as the Hamilton Honey Badgers squeaked by the Saskatchewan Rattlers 73-71 on Monday night at the Sasktel Centre.
Wigginton’s timely baskets – including the game winner, helped the Honey Badgers escape with a victory despite an off-shooting night. Hamilton shot only 8-29 (27%) from three and 11-22 (50%) from the free throw line in the two-point win. However, interior scoring from big man Kalif Young early, and Wigginton down the stretch proved to be the difference for the Honey Badgers.
I was proud of our guys, this was a tough game by both teams,” said Honey Badgers head coach Ryan Schmidt after the game, “At the end of the day I think our guys did a good job of buckling down when we needed to, and we fought out a tough win.”
“Even when we’re not making shots, we don’t let that deteriorate our whole game,” said Wigginton, “So we just buy into our defensive system and our coaches keep us confident.”
Now two games into his CEBL career, Wigginton has put up point totals of 30 and 20 with a game-winner to boot and continues to look comfortable on the court with his new teammates. While his valiant effort came up short on Saturday afternoon, he was able to guide his team to victory this time around.
Whereas Hamilton’s points were scored in the paint, Saskatchewan found most of its success from beyond the arc. The Rattlers hit 12 3-pointers and had five players make multiple shots from long range. Still, defensive lapses in both the first and fourth quarters prevented Saskatchewan from leaving the SaskTel Centre with its first win of the season.
“It wasn’t for lack of effort to me. The guys played really, really hard. They executed the game plan from a defensive perspective almost as well as we could have asked,” said Rattlers head coach Chad Jacobson, “Offensively there were stretches where we got stagnant, that hurt us. At the same time, I felt like we had some really good looks, and they just didn’t drop tonight.”
The Rattlers have now had issues scoring the ball in back-to-back games to open the 2021 CEBL season, averaging just 72.5 points per game during their 0-2 start. Despite the early struggles, coach Jacobson is keeping his squad optimistic.
“This is another opportunity to learn, another opportunity to grow,” said Jacobson, “The nature of this league is you just don’t have time to hang your head and feel sorry for yourself. We have a game on Thursday, we’ve got to forget about this one.”
Saskatchewan’s game on Thursday comes on the road against the 1-0 Fraser Valley Bandits at 5:00 p.m. ET/2:00 p.m. local time. The Rattlers dropped their season opener to the Bandits 92-74 last Saturday.
Hamilton is next in action on Thursday as well, travelling to Ottawa to face the 1-1 BlackJacks at 2:00 p.m. ET.
All CEBL games will be available for live streaming on the CEBL’s new OTT streaming service CEBL+, cbcsports.ca , the free CBC Gem streaming service, the CBC Sports App for iOS and android devices, and on Twitch.
A league created by Canadians for Canadians, the CEBL has the highest percentage of Canadian players of any professional league in the country, with 75 percent of its current rosters being Canadians. Players bring experience from the NBA, NBA G League, top international leagues, the Canadian National team program, and top NCAA programs as well as U SPORTS. The only First Division Professional League Partner of Canada Basketball, the CEBL season typically runs from May through August. Head to CEBL.ca for more information or follow us on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, LinkedIn, Facebook & YouTube
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