The Hamilton Honey Badgers are the 2022 Canadian Elite Basketball League champions. On Sunday from Toronto Dominion Place Arena in Ottawa, Ontario, the Honey Badgers defeated the Scarborough Shooting Stars 90-88.
Point guard Christian Vital led the Honey Badgers in scoring with 17 points. Four more Honey Badgers reached double digits in points. Guard Koby McEwen of Toronto, Ontario had 16 points off the bench. Shooting guard Aaron Best of Scarborough, Ontario had 15 points, center Jeremiah Tilmon had 14 points, and captain Caleb Agada had 12 points. Agada also led the Honey Badgers with seven rebounds, five assists, three steals and two assists.
The Honey Badgers won despite a marvelous comeback attempt by the Shooting Stars that came up just short. In the CEBL Final, there was a target score of 90 points. The Honey Badgers were leading 89-71, and only needed one more point to win the championship. However, the Shooting Stars went on a 17-0 run to close the gap to 89-88, before Agada was fouled, and won the title with a successful free throw. It was quite the season for Agada, who was the CEBL Canadian Player of the Year. Even though Agada was born in Nigeria, he moved to Burlington, Ontario at age six, and played his college basketball at the University of Ottawa from 2012 to 2017.
This was the fourth CEBL Championship. The Saskatchewan Rattlers were victorious in 2019, and the Edmonton Stingers won in 2020 and 2021.
