Stingers Fly Into CEBL Summer Series Final After Dominating Win Over Ottawa
A System Administrator • Aug 09, 2020
ST. CATHARINES, ON, August 8, 2020 – After nearly a year of waiting, the Edmonton Stingers got their vindication and will being playing in their first-ever Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL) Championship Final. Last season, the Stingers dropped their semifinal game, 85-83, to the eventual championships, the Saskatchewan Rattlers. Fast forward to 2020, and the Stingers were provided a dominant performance, knocking off the Ottawa BlackJacks, 88-75, on Saturday afternoon in front of a nationally televised audience. Edmonton punched their ticket to the 2020 CEBL Summer Series championship game on Sunday against second-seed Fraser Valley.
The Stingers were seemingly always in control of the semifinal game, holding the lead over Ottawa at the end of each quarter.
“We’ve got one more to go, but it was a good team overall win and we’re looking forward to moving on”, said Stingers head coach and general manager Jermaine Smalls. “We got to rest, we took two days off and we got refocused. The good thing is that we played them before, so we knew their style of play and we made a few adjustments and it worked out and we capitalized when we needed to.”
Despite having a quieter night than usual, reigning CEBL MVP Xavier Moon still contributed the second most points (13) for the Stingers, while adding four rebounds and five assists. Moon also sealed the game in Elam Ending time, drilling a three-pointer over Ottawa big-man Kyle Landry.
Notwithstanding Moon’s atypical production, the Stingers were able to share the ball and score by committee. Calgary native, Mathieu Kamba, paced the Stingers with 26 points on nine-for-12 shooting from the field. Kamba also picked up three rebounds and chipped in with three assists. “I had a really good shootaround this morning and yesterday, so I had a lot of confidence,” said Kamba. “Our game plan was to keep them off the boards – they love to crash and get rebounds – and the whole entire tournament Coach Smalls has been preaching for me to go to the rim.”
In the fourth quarter, the Stingers didn’t take their foot off the gas as they continued to pour in buckets and lockdown the BlackJacks defensively. The Stingers led 79-68 heading into the Elam Ending with a target score of 88. Despite struggling to find their first basket in Elam time, the Stingers eventually took the seal off the basket and ended the game on Moon’s three-pointer.
The third quarter started in the same way that the second quarter ended; with the Stingers being in full control of the game. Canadian Player of the Year frontrunner Jordan Baker continued his impressive work on the boards, picking up 10 rebounds and chipping in 13 points in the victory for his third double-double of the Summer Series. Fellow University of Alberta alumnus, Brody Clarke, also made his presence felt by dropping eight points and grabbing four rebounds. The Stingers held a 67-57 lead heading into the final frame.
Ottawa did not see a glimmer of hope often. The BlackJacks took the lead halfway through the second quarter 28-27 on the back of two free throws from Lloyd Pandi. The Stingers however displayed their chemistry and grit and jumped back out into the lead, ending the half ahead 47-39.
The BlackJacks were led by team captain, Olivier Hanlan with 17 points, five rebounds and three assists. Ottawa played their fourth game in five nights, whereas Edmonton had enjoyed four days without games after receiving a bye into today’s semifinal as a result of finishing first in the round robin.
BlackJacks head coach Osvaldo Jeanty was full of praise for the Stingers team saying, “They were just a better team, and we can’t have any excuses. I know it’s difficult but when you have a day off you get to re-boot. We could have easily used the excuse that they had four days off, so for them they just came and played basketball. They competed on the boards, they made us turn the ball over. They were just tougher today and a better team.”
The all-west final will be the second meeting between the Stingers and the Fraser Valley Bandits in the Summer Series. On July 26, Fraser Valley provided Edmonton with their loss in 2020, by way of a 113-100 result. Sunday’s CEBL Summer Series championship final tips off at 12 p.m. ET (10 a.m. MT, 9 a.m. PT) and will be nationally televised by CBC and livestreamed on Twitch, CBCSports.ca and the CBC Gem App.