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Saskatchewan Rattlers Fall Prey to Hamilton Honey Badgers
A System Administrator • Aug 05, 2020
ST. CATHARINES, ON, August 4, 2020 – It would be difficult to find two teams hungrier for a win. The Saskatchewan Rattlers entered Tuesday night’s action losers of three straight games. The Hamilton Honey Badgers were looking to close out the round robin portion of the CEBL Summer Series with a .500 record and clinch a berth in the playoff bracket. Ultimately, it was the Honey Badgers that succeeded by notching an 86-73 win, and getting some residual revenge on the Rattlers from the 2019 CEBL Championship game.
“From a numbers standpoint, we had to find a way to win”, said Honey Badgers head coach Ryan Schmidt. “I think we had a bunch of guys—obviously, JV [Jean-Victor Mukama] was incredible—Jermel stepped up and did a really good job, Khalif Young stepped up. What we’ve talked to our team about so much throughout this whole thing is if we’re going to win, we have to do it together. I think tonight was a product of that.”
The Honey Badgers jumped out to an early 10-0 lead in the first with the Rattlers seemingly having no answer until Negus Webster-Chan knocked down a three pointer. The frame eventually ended 30-14 for the Honey Badgers as the Rattlers struggled to take the lid off the net – a recurring theme for the team over the past several games.
The Rattlers looked like a completely different team in the second quarter – holding Hamilton to a league-record low of five points. Saskatchewan also started to find its form, clawing back from a 16-point deficit to take a 36-35 lead into halftime.
The third quarter remained close with both teams exchanging blows. It was Mukama that led the way for the Honey Badgers, as the young forward scored 28 points, grabbed six rebounds and dished four assists. Mukama was efficient from the field, shooting at a .520 clip. The third quarter ended with the Honey Badgers leading 57-54.
“We knew we had to readjust, it’s a game of runs”, said Mukama, who led all players in scoring. “Our coaches and my teammates told me to stay aggressive. They saw that whoever was guarding me couldn’t guard me. I’m an unselfish player as it is, so I knew sometimes I’d get screamed at if I didn’t take a shot or I’m not driving. Today I knew I had to come out how they wanted me to come out.”
The Honey Badgers pulled away in the fourth and never looked back after triggering an Elam Ending target score of 85, leading the game 76-64. The 21-point differential proved to be too much for the Rattlers to surmount as they mustered nine points before Honey Badgers guard Brianté Weber put the game to rest on a jump shot.
The Rattlers were led by veteran guard Negus Webster-Chan with 18 points, seven rebounds and three assists.
The Rattlers are faced with more questions than answers after dropping their fourth game in a row.
“Obviously we’re disappointed with the result – we dug ourselves a really big hole early in the game and that put us behind right from the get-go, but these guys showed a lot of resilience and they competed,” said Rattlers head coach Chad Jacobson. “I thought they left it all out on the floor and as disappointed as we are with the result, progress was made today – I thought we played a better game and we just had a night where we couldn’t make shots.”
The Rattlers will need to defeat Ottawa, 81-79 losers to Niagara in the second game of tonight’s doubleheader, in the final game of the round robin competition Wednesday evening in order to advance to the playoffs. The loser of the Ottawa – Saskatchewan game finishes seventh and goes home. Game time is set for 7:30 p.m. ET (5:30 p.m. CT).
The Honey Badgers have concluded their Summer Series round robin schedule and have clinched a playoff spot. They will now wait on the results of Wednesday’s games to see what their final seeding will be heading into the playoff rounds.
All CEBL Summer Series contests are available to watch on CBCSports.ca and the CBC Gem App. A complete broadcast schedule can be found here.