{"id":859726,"date":"2026-08-16T03:20:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-16T03:20:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/859726\/"},"modified":"2026-08-16T03:20:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-16T03:20:12","slug":"winnipeg-sea-bears-win-1st-cebl-title-defeat-brampton-honey-badgers-in-2026-final","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/859726\/","title":{"rendered":"Winnipeg Sea Bears win 1st CEBL title, defeat Brampton Honey Badgers in 2026 final"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Text<\/p>\n

Listen to this article<\/p>\n

Estimated 3 minutes<\/p>\n

The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.<\/p>\n

The Winnipeg Sea Bears are Canadian Elite Basketball League champions for the first time after defeating the Brampton Honey Badgers 98-84 in the league\u2019s single-game championship on Saturday.<\/p>\n

With the target score set at 97, hometown hero Simon Hildebrandt hit the championship-winning three-pointer in front of a CEBL-record crowd of 12,519 at the Canada Life Centre in Winnipeg.<\/p>\n

Three-time CEBL MVP Xavier Moon led the Sea Bears in scoring with 29 points, going three for four from three-point range, while adding seven rebounds and six assists.<\/p>\n

Moon, who made his CEBL return this season after five years away, captured his third Finals MVP award after helping Winnipeg overcome the absence of injured star forward Teddy Allen<\/a>.<\/p>\n

WATCH | Sea Bears defeat Honey Badgers to claim 1st CEBL title:\"\"<\/p>\n

Winnipeg Sea Bears defeat Brampton Honey Badgers to claim 1st CEBL championship title<\/p>\n

Winnipeg native Simon Hildebrandt hit the championship-winning shot while three-time CEBL MVP Xavier Moon led the Sea Bears in scoring with 29 points, as the Winnipeg Sea Bears beat the Brampton Honey Badgers 98-84 to claim their first CEBL championship title.<\/p>\n

“It’s crazy to be back in this environment again. I mean, obviously, familiar territory for me for winning, but to do it in a city that’s never won a playoff game, I think it means a lot more,” said Moon.<\/p>\n

“This one is a lot more special than the first one. So, like I’ve been saying, man, I’m happy for my teammates, and I’m happy for the city of Winnipeg.”<\/p>\n

Sea Bears guard Jelani Watson-Gayle hit a game-high five three-pointers off the bench.<\/p>\n

Hildebrandt added four threes while finishing with 24 points.<\/p>\n

Honey Badgers star Sean East II led his team with 27 points, with fellow guard Trentyn Flowers adding 20. Brampton trailed 46-42 at halftime and 73-60 heading into the final quarter.<\/p>\n

“I’m just super happy for everybody that is out there celebrating today and that it came to fruition because the organization did definitely deserve a championship,” said Sea Bears new head coach Mike Raimbault.<\/p>\n

WATCH | Sea Bears hoist the championship trophy:\"\"<\/p>\n

Winnipeg Sea Bears hoist the CEBL Championship Trophy for the first time<\/p>\n

Watch as the Winnipeg Sea Bears hoist the CEBL Championship Trophy after defeating the Brampton Honey Badgers in the 2026 championship game.<\/p>\n

The CEBL championship was intended to be a three-game series concluding Sunday, but Wednesday’s first game at Brampton’s CAA Centre was suspended early due to condensation on the court, and then cancelled.<\/p>\n

The league then said a three-game final couldn’t be completed within the scheduled window, and after consulting with both clubs, opted to return to a single-game format used from 2019 to 2025 to determine the champion.<\/p>\n

The Honey Badgers were looking to capture their second CEBL championship after winning the title in 2022, when the franchise was based in Hamilton.<\/p>\n

The Sea Bears, who finished second in the Western Conference, defeated the Saskatoon Mamba and Vancouver Bandits in the West playoffs to reach the final.<\/p>\n

The Honey Badgers, who finished second in the Eastern Conference, defeated the Ottawa BlackJacks and Niagara River Lions in the East playoffs to reach the final.<\/p>\n

“We fought hard. We dealt with adversity. Not the outcome we wanted,” East II said. “We turned the Brampton program around so we can be happy about that for sure.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 3 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":859727,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194339],"tags":[51759,49,48],"class_list":["post-859726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brampton","tag-brampton","tag-ca","tag-canada"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=859726"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859726\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/859727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=859726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=859726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=859726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}