Surge get huge night from dynamic duo to defeat Stingers at WinSport

CTV News

2 days ago

The Calgary Surge in action Thursday against the Edmonton Stingers.
The Surge got big nights from the dynamic duo of Jameer Nelson Jr. and Evan Gilyard II Thursday to help propel them past the Edmonton Stingers in CEBL playoff action.
Evan Gilyard II led the way for the Surge, finishing with 28 points, five assists and a huge triple in Target Score Time that put the Surge to within a bucket of the target score of 103.
That set the stage for Jameer Nelson Jr., who redirected an inbounds pass up into the bucket to advance the Surge into a western conference final showdown against the Vancouver Bandits on Saturday by a 103-95 margin.
Nelson Jr. finished with 26 points, six rebounds, seven assists and two steals.
Surge coach Caleb Canales said the club is lucky to have two go-to guards, in addition to a third who consistently come up big in crunch time.
'It's super special and we're super spoiled having both of them,' Canales said of the Surge's guard duo. 'Both are knocking on the door of an NBA contract. They play both ends at a high level, so we've been very spoiled by both of them.'
Nelson Jr. and Gilyard II accounted for more than half of the Surge's total scoring.
The club also got big performances from Sean Miller-Moore, who delivered 19 points, and Greg Brown III, who added 17 points, eight rebounds and three assists.
'I loved the fight from our group,' Canales said. 'We stuck to our identity, especially in the second half. We did a good job taking Edmonton's punch in the first half and we made plays down the stretch … it was a great way to end our games at home.'
It was the third straight year the Surge have knocked out the Stingers in the playoffs.
After Edmonton built a slender 50-48 lead at the half, the Surge took over the game in the third quarter, using 12-4 and 13-0 runs to propel the club to a nine-point lead after three.
Gilyard was the catalyst in the third quarter, racking up 14 points.
The Stingers weren't done however, going on a 12-2 run in the fourth that brought them all the way back to an 87-87 tie game with five minutes left.
That was as close as Edmonton got, however, as Gilyard and Nelson took over from there, lifting Calgary to the win.
Calgary goes to Vancouver to take on the Bandits, with the winner advancing to a conference final showdown in Winnipeg against the Sea Bears.