Surge can clinch CEBL playoff berth with Friday night win

The Calgary Surge can clinch a playoff spot with a win over Montreal Friday night (image: CEBL)

Friday night’s Surge game against Montreal is a tale of two CEBL franchises moving in opposite directions.

Calgary, 9-7, riding a three-game winning streak, takes on the Alliance, who have lost eight of nine Friday at 7, with a chance to clinch a playoff spot and climb to within striking distance of division leaders Vancouver and Edmonton.

Oddly, the Alliance have already guaranteed themselves a spot in the CEBL conference finals because they’re the championship weekend host city, so their playoff seeding is already locked and loaded.

The Surge have taken off since losing three players to the NBA Summer League, which forced them to play smaller lineups.

It also brought in new players who have bought into the teams' defence-first philosophy, Surge coach Tyrell Vernon said after the team defeated the Vancouver Bandits 97-94 last week.

“There’s a bunch of new faces around,” Vernon said after the game, “But again, I think they’ve locked in defensively on what we’re trying to do.”

That led to wins over the Stingers, the Bandits and the Rattlers, giving the squad hope that they might repeat their 2023 season, when they advanced to the CEBL Finals before losing the title to Scarborough.

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