The Surge will face the Vancouver Bandits in the Western Conference final Friday, a rematch from Championship Weekend 2023
Sean Miller-Moore, who flirted with a triple-double in a Western Conference play-in game victory over the Winnipeg Sea Bears two days earlier, scored six of his 18 points in the fourth quarter, including the game-winning layup through contact in target-score time.
“I was thinking about going to the left,” said Miller-Moore after the game. “But I just ducked my head, tried to get it up and the ball bounced in my favour.”
The victory comes roughly one year after the Calgary side defeated the Stingers at home in the same game — the Western Conference semifinal — to seal the fourth and final spot in CEBL Championship Weekend 2023, during which ultimately fell to the Scarborough Shooting Stars in the championship final.
Jordy Tshimanga, who scored only three points in the Surge’s play-In game, was a force on the glass Sunday, hauling in eight rebounds — including three offensively — and adding 14 points. Gabe Osabuohien and Trhae Mitchell, who combined for 15 rebounds, also led the Surge to a 48-37 edge over the Stingers in rebounds. It was a factor that helped the Calgary club overcome 22 team turnovers that resulted in 24 points for the hosts.
“It was amazing to watch — we stayed together and made it work,” Tshimanga said. “I’m proud of the guys, proud of the coaching staff and happy to move on.”
The game went back and forth right from the opening tip, as neither team created any separation on the floor or scoreboard.
After the Surge won the jump and missed a quick layup, Nick Hornsby found Brody Clarke running the floor for the Stingers’ opening basket. Four of the home-side’s first six points were scored in layups in transition. And roughly one quarter of the total points in the game were scored on the fast break (19).
However, the Surge — not showing any signs of fatigue from their victory on Friday night in Calgary — used the three-point ball to take an early one-point lead after one quarter, converting four triples in the frame.
Stingers reserve Mike Nuga did his best to counteract the Surge’s sharp shooting in the opening frame. Nuga, who knocked down both of his three-point attempts in the first quarter, converted his third three of the game on a dish from Trey McGowens in the second quarter. Nuga finished with 11 points, while Jacob Evans III scored a team-high 13 points on 45 per cent shooting from the field and added eight boards.
Nuga’s efficiency came as the long balls stopped dropping for the Surge. The Calgary crew didn’t score another three pointer until the third quarter — a Corey Davis Jr. triple in the corner, which marked his third three-pointer of the game.
Davis led all scorers with 22 points and four triples. But the Surge shot 25 per cent from beyond the arch as a team. The Surge, instead, relied on mid-range jumpers and buckets inside after the first.
Miller-Moore had a couple of those midrange jump-shots. And Tshimanga started flexing his muscles after being subbed in halfway through the first, chipping in with six points off the bench in the first two quarters.
The Stingers’ Mindaugas Kačinas, a 37 per cent three-point shooter during the regular season, found space moving without the basketball to knock down a three and tie the game at 39-39 heading into halftime.
Following the intermission, the Surge once again started feeding Tshimanga. The 6-foot-11 big man from Montréal, who dealt with a nosebleed in the second quarter, found success in a one-on-one matchup against Ben Krikke, drawing a foul and scoring a tip-in off the glass in the paint on back-to-back possessions in the third.
“He did a phenomenal job rebounding the ball, scoring the ball down low, putting pressure on the rim …” Surge head coach Tyrell Vernon said of Tshimanga, who nearly registered a double-double — with 13 points and eight rebounds — through three quarters. “His energy and attention to detail was phenomenal.”
The Surge also used seven third-quarter points from Davis to take a 63-54 lead heading into the fourth.
Although the Stingers started the fourth on a 5-0 run to cut into the lead, Brody Clarke, who notched 11 points and eight rebounds, fouled out right before target-score time, with the Surge clinging to a seven-point lead. Without Clarke, the Surge went on a 7-0 run with the game-clock shut off. Davis then knocked down a three-pointer on a bounce-pass from Osabuohien that forced Edmonton head coach Jordan Baker to call a timeout.
“It’s professional basketball — you gotta put the ball in the basket,” Baker said. “When you don’t score 70 points, it becomes hard to win basketball games,” Baker said. “Guys battled, to their credit — we had some really good possessions that resulted in some easy ones that we missed.”
The Stingers shot under 40 per cent from the field as a team. And despite coming into the night as the best free-throw shooting team in the CEBL, the Edmonton side converted only 6-of-11 shots from the line.
The Stingers crawled within eight points in target-score time, but following a Surge timeout, Miller-Moore fought through a pair of opponents to get a layup to fall, silencing the crowd.
The Surge (13-9) face the Vancouver Bandits (14-6) in the Western Conference final on Friday night, which is a rematch from Championship Weekend 2023. That’s when the Surge defeated the host Bandits last summer to advance to the championship match.
Vernon says another victory over the Bandits won’t come easy, but preparation for that matchup is already underway.
“For us, it’s just attention to detail, go back to the film, rest up and keep everybody healthy,” added Vernon. “We’ll be motivated come the weekend.”
— Josh Kozeli