The Edmonton Stingers completed a sweep in Calgary of two of the top teams from Latin America on Wednesday night, defeating Real Estelí of Nicaragua 88-79 to complete its Basketball Champions League Americas (BCLA) homestand at WinSport Arena.

With the win, Edmonton finishes in a three-way tie for first place in the highly competitive Group A , which also features Cangrejeros of Puerto Rico in the three team division. Each team finished with nine points and a 3-3 record, which resulted in a statistical tiebreak settled by point differential.

Despite not advancing to the Final 8 of the BCLA, the Stingers reversed a 1-3 record following group phase one and two by defeating their Nicaraguan and Puerto Rican opponents in front of a dedicated Calgarian crowd who cheered on Canada’s team throughout the week.

Edmonton’s head coach and general manager Jermaine Small was impressed with his team’s performance and ability to hold court on home soil.

“I thought we played well. I thought we got a lot of different contributions. I thought JV (Mukama) was really, really good and you know what, people don’t understand how hard it is to come together–we’ve only practiced for three days–and play and win,” Small said. “I’m very proud of the effort and just overall I think that we maximized our opportunity and I’m very happy that I was a part of it.”

Jordan Baker led the way for the Stingers with 10 points, 12 rebounds and 4 assists in nearly 33 minutes of action. Baker’s tenacious play helped pace the tempo for the Stingers, who raced out to a lead that grew to as large as 22 points in the first half. Edmonton shot 57.6 per cent in the first half, which was bolstered by 8-of-18 from beyond the arc in the opening 20 minutes.

“We wanted to really push the tempo and make sure that they had to get up and down in transition and play a little faster than they wanted to tonight, so we jumped on them a little bit early and obviously managed to hang on,” Baker said.

Cuban power forward Ismael Romero was a force in the paint for Real Estelí, who found the skilled big man early and often throughout the game in an effort to keep up with Edmonton’s fast-break offence.

Estelí would not go quietly. Alexander Franklin’s energy around the rim provided Estelí with a two-pronged attack and helped spark a fourth quarter comeback. Franklin finished the game with six steals and his gritty defensive play led to some crucial baskets in transition for Real Estelí.

Rigoberto Mendoza cashed in a corner three to bring his club to within nine points, but it would prove to be as close as Real Estelí would get. For each counterattack, Edmonton had an answer. A late dunk by Travis Daniels sealed the deal on a tremendous BCLA debut for the Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL).

Although the Stingers’ BCLA run came to an end in Calgary, the strong attendance at WinSport provided an exciting indication of Calgary’s appetite for a potential expansion team in the future, according to CEBL commissioner and CEO Mike Morreale.

“There have been more suitors that have come and introduced themselves to me over the last three days, so that’s a good thing. We have some existing groups that have been chatting with me as well. I think this is going to fast track the talks. I would reasonably suggest that we’re looking at 2024,” Morreale said. “There’s a bunch of work that’s left to be done but this was a giant first step and a really good one.”