Edmonton Stingers Ready To Ramp Up For Second Half of CEBL Season

EDMONTON - Adversity can break you or make you stronger, and the Edmonton Stingers have chosen the latter during the first half of the team’s inaugural Canadian Elite Basketball League regular season.

A head coach and GM change, an early season injury to star point guard Xavier Moon as well as some other roster shuffling moves forced upon the team hasn’t slowed the Stingers down at the midway point of the CEBL season.

As Edmonton (6-4) gets set to host the Hamilton Honey Badgers (7-4) tonight (7 p.m.) at the Edmonton Expo Centre, the Stingers last two victories have proven to be character-building wins for the team.

“This squad is tight. We have that feeling of togetherness and we’re family-oriented,” said Stingers power forward Akeem Ellis.

“You can always be an individual and get your stats, but character building moments can lead you to winning championships, and we’ve experienced some of those moments and we need to continue to build more.”

There comes a turning point in every season, and the Stingers believe they’ve reached that point over the last couple weeks.

On June 19, head coach and GM Barnaby Craddock resigned from the team to focus on his head coaching duties with the University of Alberta.

The team was coming off their first home loss and were sitting at 4-4 in the standings and were headed on the road to face a winless and desperate Fraser Valley Bandits team just three days later.

Under new head coach and GM Jermaine Small, the Stingers battled and came through with a dramatic come-from-behind victory in overtime for their first road win in franchise history and last week, missing their top scorer Jordan Baker, beat the league leading Niagara Riverlions.

Edmonton has proven to be dominant on their home floor with a 5-1 record, that includes two wins over the league-leading Riverlions.

“We’ve had some changes, but we’ve really solidified our roster now and we’ve found our identity,” said Stingers point guard Ashton Smith.

“We’re the best defensive team in the league, and that’s our staple.We have to continue to take pride in that and we’ll be successful.”

The Stingers are getting healthy at the right time of the season. Moon has rejoined the team and will look to continue his dominant play from the beginning of the season, and Ellis made his return to the lineup in the win over Niagara after missing three weeks.

“It’s huge,” said Smith regarding the return of Moon and Ellis.

“They’re a big part of our team and they make us a whole lot better.”

Edmonton’s had spurts this season without some of their top talent in the lineup, but it’s allowed other players to step up and take on a bigger role.

Point guard Deondre Parks came in and filled in admirably in the absence of Moon. Guard Mathieu Kamba has taken on a bigger role over the last month and point guard Adika Peter-McNeilly has provided the team with energy and a scoring punch.

The emergence of power forward Travis Daniels has also played a big factor in the Stingers surge.

"It shows that we have a lot of depth, and that’s what we need. We have really good scorers, but we need guys to step up and be relied on when we need them,” said Ellis.

“I see the work that (Mathieu) Kamba and guys like Adika are putting in the gym every single day, and it’s showing in these big moments.”

Edmonton has a busy month of July six games. After tonight’s game against Hamilton, they face the Guelph Nighthawks for three straight games, including July 11 at home.

Get your tickets at www.thestingers.ca

Written by Jason Hills