Honey Badgers squeak by Bandits to claim second place in CEBL standings
By: Matthew Winick • July 24, 2021
The Hamilton Honey Badgers (8-3) pulled away late to come out with a dramatic 96-93 victory over the Fraser Valley Bandits (5-3) on Friday night in one of the games of the year in the CEBL. With the win, the Honey Badgers surpassed the Bandits for sole possession of second place in the league’s standings.
The thrilling contest saw 28 lead changes, with no team leading by more than eight points at any juncture. With both squads vying for playoff positioning, tensions were high down the stretch. Inevitably, Hamilton rallied behind its raucous home crowd and a couple of huge baskets in the Elam Ending.
“I’m proud of our guys, it was sloppy at times, but those resilient wins are what you need moving towards the playoffs,” said Honey Badgers’ head coach Ryan Schmidt after the game, “It’s not always going to be pretty but just finding a way to win towards the end was key.”
Lindell Wigginton was his usual effective self, scoring a game-high tying 21 points. He was far from the only Honey Badger to make an impact though, with five other teammates joining him with double-figure scoring. A standout among them was JV Mukama, who hit big shots down the stretch and finished with 16 points of his own.
“I think (JV) is finally being aggressive,” said Schmidt, “When he’s aggressive, it makes us tough to guard.”
“The team is giving me confidence,” said Mukama, “I’m finding my mojo, and I’m glad I’m finding it close to playoff time.”
Considering this contest was anyone’s game from the very start, the defeat stings a little extra for Fraser Valley. The Bandits were their usual scrappy selves, using a tight rotation and pressuring Hamilton’s guards from start to finish.
Luckily though, Friday’s tilt was just a regular season game, and with both squads looking towards the playoffs in a couple weeks from now, Fraser Valley is looking at the bigger picture despite the loss.
“There’s a lot of lessons learnt from this game. I think we played in multiple moment and spurts in this game, we weren’t consistent enough in our effort,” said Bandits’ head coach David Singleton, “There’s always things to get better at, so it’s a great learning experience.”
Alex Campbell led the way for the Bandits, tied with Wigginton for tops in the game at 21 points, including five three-pointers. Campbell also provided his squad with intensity on defense, showing tenacity on both ends of the floor.
“This is the beauty of the CEBL, anybody can beat anybody on any given night, and it shows,” said Campbell, “As much as this was a regular season game, we treat every game like a playoff game, but we came up short tonight.”
Fraser Valley won’t have to wait long to try to squeeze back into the win column, as the team will travel back to Abbotsford to take on the Edmonton Stingers at home on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. PT/4:00 p.m. ET.
Meanwhile, the Honey Badgers are next in action on Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. ET as they head to Guelph to take on the Nighthawks.
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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The Vancouver Bandits have signed 6-foot-9 forward and Surrey, BC product Majok Gum for the 2026 Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL) season. An attendee of 2026 Training Camp, Gum competed for the Bandits during the 2026 preseason and appeared in two games during the 2025 CEBL regular season. Gum began the 2025-26 overseas season in Germany with BÖRGEL Ballers Ibbenbüren before transferring to BK Amager in Denmark's first division, Basketligaen, where he averaged 14.9 points and 11.6 rebounds per game across 19 games played. At the collegiate level, Gum played five seasons at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ont. In 117 games (41 starts), he averaged 4.4 points, 4.2 rebounds and 0.6 blocks while shooting 46.5 per cent from the field. His 52 career blocks ranked him sixth all time in Golden Hawks program history. An alumnus of Byrne Creek Secondary in Burnaby, B.C., Gum helped lead the Bulldogs to a second place finish at the 2018 BC 3A Boys Basketball Provincial Championship, while also earning Best Defensive Player honours at the tournament. Gum will wear number 4 for the Bandits.
Physio District is proud to partner with the Vancouver Bandits as the organization’s Official Sports Medicine & Rehabilitation Provider. Led by Director of Sports Medicine & Rehabilitation Vic Sanghera and Physiotherapist Neil Nijjar, the partnership will support the Bandits with comprehensive injury management, rehabilitation, performance optimization, recovery, and return-to-play services throughout the CEBL season. With extensive experience working in high-performance sport, amateur and professional athletics, and international competition environments, Physio District brings an integrated approach focused on athlete availability, performance support, and evidence-informed care through manual therapy, movement analysis, and corrective exercise principles. In collaboration with the Bandits performance staff, the partnership will also incorporate advanced athlete monitoring and performance technologies through Hawkins Dynamics systems, including force plate testing and TruStrength performance assessment tools, to support rehabilitation progression, performance profiling, and return-to-play decision-making. Physio District is committed to helping athletes perform at their highest level while supporting long-term health, recovery, and durability throughout the demands of a professional basketball season. Physio District is excited to support the Vancouver Bandits organization and contribute to a high-performance environment both on and off the court.
The Vancouver Bandits were unable to find consistent offense against the Edmonton Stingers, suffering a 91-78 defeat Saturday night at the Edmonton Expo Centre. The game started with both teams going blow for blow in scoring, until the Stingers began to pull away with three-pointers from Samage Teel and Michael Nuga. The Stingers applied overwhelming defensive pressure, slowing down the Bandits up-tempo offence. The Bandits got into a rhythm in the second quarter, chipping away at the deficit and out-pacing the Stingers defense. The Stingers went cold offensively as they approached half time, going a full three minutes without scoring. That dry spell for the Stingers took place during a 19-6 run for the Bandits in that quarter, as they defended aggressively and found more space on the attack. Jalen House shot 8 for 9 in the first half at the free throw line, while Tevian Jones used his explosive athleticism to score 16 points. The Bandits took the lead on free throws from reigning Canadian Player of the Year, Tyrese Samuel, who finished with a team-leading 13 rebounds. The second quarter ended with the Bandits on top, 42-38. The Stingers responded in the third quarter with gritty, physical defense, while using the full shot clock on offense. The Bandits couldn’t build momentum, allowing 33 points and surrendering the lead. The Bandits flirted with a comeback in the fourth, shrinking the Stingers’ lead to seven points, but were unable to capitalise. House led the game in scoring with 27 points, but he was disappointed with the defensive effort from the Bandits. “We were letting them get [points] too easily in the paint, easy threes.” Vancouver head coach Kyle Julius said “our defensive effort was poor everywhere,” calling tonight’s game “one of our worst performances in two to three years.” The success in the second quarter came from the Bandits “playing good defense, playing hard,” said House. “That’s obviously why we shot up and got that three point lead going into half time, but we got away from it.” The Stingers big man Dain Dainja put up 25 points and 14 rebounds in over 29 minutes, all of which led his team. Vancouver falls to 1-1, and goes down 0-1 in the home-and-home series. Vancouver will play Edmonton again on Friday, May 22 for their Home Opener at Envision Financial Court at the Langley Events Centre. Tickets are available for purchase at this link . Box Score https://www.cebl.ca/game?id=2798728
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