Edmonton Stingers Win Third in a row 92-68 Victory over the Montréal Alliance
The Edmonton Stingers (4-3) used 44 points from their bench to notch their third victory in a row in a 92-68 win over the Montréal Alliance (3-6) on Saturday night.
Edmonton’s bench outscored Montréal’s bench by 25 points and nearly scored as many points as their starting lineup, which scored 48 points.
Captain Adika Peter-McNeilly led the way for the reserves, scoring 15 points on 45 per cent shooting.
Defensively, this was the third straight game that Edmonton held their opponent to under 75 points—a key factor that Peter-McNeilly credited to leading to more scoring opportunities.
“We want to come out and play defence, that’s our motto,” Peter-McNeilly said after the game. “Our defence turns into offence.”
Edmonton held Montréal to 19-57 shooting from the field and 7-24 from three point range tonight.
Like Peter-McNeilly, Edmonton Stingers head coach Jordan Baker credited the team’s defence over the last three games to building their recent win streak.
“It starts with defence, another sub-70 game is where we want to be,” Baker said. “From the jump, we set the tone defensively and that’s what we’re going to hang our hat on all season.”
Not to be outdone by the bench, Nick Hornsby was another bright spot offensively, coming two assists away from recording a triple-double. The Irvine, California native finished with 11 points, 10 rebounds, and 8 assists.
The Stingers led wire-to-wire against a Montréal team that just earned their first road win of the season last night against the Calgary Surge, which also snapped their five-game losing skid.
Montréal was missing their leading scorer Blake Francis, who is averaging over 19 points per contest, for the second straight game due to an injury.
From the tip, Edmonton jumped out to an 18-2 run and converted on their first four shots from three point range. Elijah Miller, a native of Rexdale, Ontario, made his first three threes in the quarter.
In total, the Stingers drilled 15 three pointers and shot 42 per cent from deep. The three point barrage comes three days after Edmonton scored just four long balls and shot only 16 per cent from three in a 79-74 victory over the Saskatchewan Rattlers.
Eight of those three pointers came in the first half, when Montréal primarily played a 2-3 zone defence.
Although Edmonton used the long ball to get ahead early, Montréal hung around in the first half.
The Alliance ended the first quarter on a 12-6 run to make it a 10-point game after one.
Alain Louis was a sparkplug all game for Montréal. The energetic guard scored 13 points—second on the team tonight behind Ahmed Hill’s game-high 17 points—and got to the free throw line 13 times. He converted nine of his free throw attempts.
“He’s a young kid, he’s learning, our starting point guard [Francis] is out so he gets to get some valuable minutes and lessons,” Montréal head coach Derrick Alston said. “Every time we step on the court, it’s a way for the younger guys to get better, and today I felt those guys got better.”
As a team, Montréal racked up 23 points from 32 attempts from the stripe. Edmonton sank 11 of their 12 free throws.
However, Edmonton went on a 10-3 run to begin the second quarter and never looked back, stretching their lead to 15 at halftime.
The game opened up in the third, as the Stingers bench started to score in bunches. Forward Somto Dimanochie scored six in the frame, highlighted by a fadeaway jumper that rattled in as he was fouled.
Edmonton took a 82-60 lead into target score time. Aher Uguak then scored 5 of his 16 total points in target score, highlighted by a game-winning shot from just outside the free throw line that bounced off the backboard and in.
With the win, Edmonton moved to within one game of Winnipeg for first place in the western conference. The Stingers are set to embark on a three-game road trip that begins in Scarborough on Thursday.
Montréal, meanwhile, will look to get back in the win column against the Ottawa BlackJacks on June 22.
Full broadcast schedule of CEBL Games of the Week on TSN can be found here. All games will also be streamed live internationally on the CEBL’s OTT platform, CEBL+, and on the CEBL Mobile app for iOS and Android devices.
A league created by Canadians for Canadians with a mission to develop Canadian players, coaches, sports executives, and referees, the CEBL boasts the highest percentage of Canadian players of any pro league in the country with 71 percent of its 2022 rosters being Canadian. Players bring experience from the NBA, NBA G League, top international pro leagues, the Canadian National team program, and top NCAA programs as well as U SPORTS. Nine players have moved from the CEBL into the NBA following a CEBL season, and 28 CEBL players attended NBA G League training camps during October. The CEBL season runs from May through August. More information about the CEBL is available at CEBL.ca and @cebleague on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, LinkedIn, Facebook & YouTube.
