Jameer Nelson Jr. named CEBL Defensive Player of the Year as Surge prepare for showdown with Sea Bears

Jameer Nelson jr. of the Calgary Surge was named the CEBL Defensive Player of the Year Thursday. Nelson Jr. was also named to the All CEBL Second Team all-stars.

The Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL) announced its award-winners and all-stars Thursday night, and the Calgary Surge represented.

Surge guard Jameer Nelson Jr. led the way, being named the CEBL Defensive Player of the Year. Nelson Jr. was also named an All CEBL Second Team all-star.

Greg Brown III was named to the All CEBL First Team, while Sean (Rugzy) Miller-Moore was named to the CEBL All Canadian team.

There was also something encouraging about the fact that the biggest award winners were the Vancouver Bandits whom the Surge eliminated from the playoffs last Saturday in a thrilling 105-103 game.

The Bandits claimed the MVP (Mitch Creek), the CEBL Player of the Year and the Clutch Player of the Year (Tyrese Samuel), and the Coach of the Year (Kyle Julius) and they’ll all be watching the Surge on TSN Friday night, playing the Winnipeg Sea Bears with the winner advancing to the championship game.

Samuel, who was the only player in the league to average 20 points and 10 rebounds a game, narrowly edged out Calgary’s Miller-Moore for Clutch Player of the Year, winning on a tie breaking vote.

Nelson Jr., who led the Surge with 39 points in their win over the Bandits, set a league record with 57 steals in 19 games, along with five blocks.

Calgary had the second-best record in the CEBL (17-7) and lead the league in the post-season with 104 points per game.

The Surge are also forcing 17 turnovers per game in the post-season, tops among the remaining teams.

“Our formula is defence to offence and we’ve got to be able to guard people. I feel like we’re a team that takes pride in playing both ends at a high level,” said Surge coach Kaleb Canales.

Calgary won three of four from the Sea Bears during the regular season, including both games played in Winnipeg.

Game time Friday is 6:30 p.m. MT. The winner advances to Sunday’s championship game, which will be at 5 p.m. MT.