Brampton Honey Badgers fall to Real Esteli for second straight loss at BCLA

The Brampton Honey Badgers are off to a rough start at the Basketball Champions League Americas (BCLA).

The reigning CEBL champions dropped their second in a row in the first window of group stage action on Saturday, falling 94-82 to Real Esteli.

The Champions League sees teams from South and Central America along with Canada’s national champion competing over the course of four months for a berth in the 2024 FIBA Intercontinental Cup.

The Honey Badgers officially made the move to Brampton from Hamilton last month due to the closure of their old home court at the FirstOntario Centre.

Jahvon Henry-Blair scored a team-high 20 points, while Sean Miller-Moore added 18 for Brampton, which dropped its opener 99-83 to Libertadores de Queretaro on Friday.

Jordan Williams finished with 15 points and Gelvis Solano contributed 11 points and seven assists.

Jared Ruiz recorded a game-high 27 points and 13 rebounds for the Nicaraguan champions, with Davon Jefferson adding 12 points and 12 rebounds off the bench. Jezreel De Jesus scored 19, while Thomas Robinson and Angel Matias added 14 apiece, also off the bench.

The Honey Badgers got off to a solid start, going up 28-20 after the first quarter and going up by as much as 14 midway through the second.

However, Esteli went on a 14-2 run in the final 3:57 of the quarter to go into halftime only down 41-39.

In the third, Esteli completely took over.

Ruiz scored 14 of his points in the quarter, including a layup with nine seconds remaining, as his side outscored Brampton 34-14 to take an 18-point lead into the fourth.

The Honey Badgers went on a 7-2 run near the midway mark to cut the deficit to 13 before Alex Campbell hit a three-pointer with 2:56 remaining to trim it to 10.

But that was as close as Brampton would get as Esteli held on for the victory.

The team is assigned to Group A in the BCLA and will play a second window next month when they travel to Managua, Nicaragua to play Libertadores on Jan. 17 and home team Real Esteli on Jan. 18.

Brampton’s CAA Centre will host the third and final window Feb. 7-9. Tickets for the round of Brampton games are available now, and there is a 33 per cent discount on buying packs of tickets for all three games. Tickets are available at www.CEBL.ca/bcla/tickets.

All BCLA games featuring the Honey Badgers will be live streamed internationally for free on CEBL’s platform. For more information and to view the full game schedule visit www.CEBL.ca.

With files from The Canadian Press