Matthew Winick
The Edmonton Stingers (11-1) used a 10-3 burst in the Elam Ending to turn a tie game into an 85-78 victory over the Saskatchewan Rattlers (1-11) on Monday night at the Expo Centre in Edmonton.
With the victory, the Stingers clinched the number one overall seed in the CEBL’s regular season standings. The result was far from a forgone conclusion early on, as the Rattlers led by 10 at halftime and gave Edmonton all it could handle.
The Stingers were without their leader, top scorer, and potential Player of the Year with Xavier Moon sitting out on Monday. Despite all of the lost production from the lineup, Edmonton made do. Leading the way offensively was import forward Marlon Johnson, who led the team with 18 points.
“Most definitely (I tried to be more aggressive without Xavier Moon), especially in that first quarter, I put up lots of shots,” said Johnson after the game, “I can do that if I have to.”
Beyond Johnson, Edmonton also got significant contributions from lesser-used rotation players. None of Kemel Archer, Alex Carson, or Kareem South play big minutes on a normal night for the Stingers, but all played huge roles in Monday’s win.
Archer was excellent around the rim, scoring 11 points on a perfect 5-5 shooting, all from inside the arc. Carson did his damage from deep, nailing three first-half triple en route to nine points. South was a steady presence as the team’s backup point guard, scoring eight points and dishing out three assists.
“I let these guys know a couple of days ago that (Xavier) Moon wouldn’t be playing, so I say it’s next man up,” said Stingers’ head coach Jermaine Small after the game, “There’s a lot of opportunities for young guys like Kareem South, (Kemel) Archer and (Alex) Carson to step up… and I thought they came through today. Without their energy, we wouldn’t have won the game.”
On the other side, with the loss, Saskatchewan was officially eliminated from playoff contention. The team gave everything it could, but fell victim to the chemistry, experience, and talent of the Stingers and their loud fans down the stretch. Despite one of the better performances by the Rattlers this season, a victory evaded them once again.
“I’m really proud of the guys’ professionalism and the way they played the game tonight,” said Rattlers’ head coach Conor Dow after the game, “After losing to a team three times, it’s real hard to have confidence but we came out and punched them in the mouth, so that was great to see.”
Leading the way for Saskatchewan was American forward Jakeenan Gant, who put together one of the best stat lines of any player throughout the entire CEBL season. The University of Louisiana-Lafayette product dropped 27 points on 10-14 shooting to go along with six rebounds, three blocks and two steals while drilling five three-pointers in the loss. Gant was a force on both sides of the floor but hangs his hat on the defensive end.
“The defense – blocking shots and running the floor is where it starts at,” said Gant, “That’s how we get most of our offense, by pushing in transition.”
Despite being knocked out of the playoff picture, the Rattlers still have two more games against the Fraser Valley Bandits to close out the season. The first of the two comes on Sunday afternoon at 5:00 p.m. ET/3:00 p.m. local time at home in the SaskTel Centre.
For the first place Stingers, they also close out the season with two contests against the Bandits, both on their home floor. The two teams matchup next on Wednesday at 9:30 p.m. ET/7:30 p.m. local time.
All CEBL games will be available for live streaming on the CEBL’s new OTT streaming service CEBL+, cbcsports.ca , the free CBC Gem streaming service, the CBC Sports App for iOS and android devices, and on Twitch.
A league created by Canadians for Canadians, the CEBL has the highest percentage of Canadian players of any professional league in the country, with 75 percent of its current rosters being Canadians. Players bring experience from the NBA, NBA G League, top international leagues, the Canadian National team program, and top NCAA programs as well as U SPORTS. The only First Division Professional League Partner of Canada Basketball, the CEBL season typically runs from May through August. Head to CEBL.ca for more information or follow us on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, LinkedIn, Facebook & YouTube