Surge clinch playoff berth with victory over Alliance

The Calgary Surge are headed back to the post-season.

A 90-80 home victory over the Montreal Alliance at the WinSport Event Centre on Friday secured the second-year club’s spot in the playoffs.

The Surge improved to 10-7 and extended their winning streak to four games. After falling to the Scarborough Shooting Stars in last year’s CEBL Finals, Calgary will attempt to do one better when Championship Weekend hits Montreal next month.

Meanwhile, the host Alliance are still trying to find their mojo, having now dropped nine of their past 10 games to fall to 4-14.

Calgary, though, still has something to play for. It sits just two games behind Vancouver for first in the West and one back of Edmonton for second.

To that end, head coach Tyrell Vernon said he doesn’t want his team getting too comfortable on its current hot streak — especially given the 0-3 start to the season that the team endured.

“To be in this position now, I think it’s a great accomplishment, but at the same time I don’t think it’s exactly what we want at the end of this. We want to see how many wins we can possibly get to the end here,” Vernon said.

Sean Miller-Moore, the Surge’s second-leading scorer, paced Calgary with 24 points while also contributing seven assists and five rebounds. It was a welcome return to form for Miller-Moore, who had struggled since missing a game with a lower-body injury.

Import Kyler Edwards, who joined the team in time for the first game of its winning streak and already appears quite comfortable, added 18 points (5-of-9 from beyond the arc) and three assists.

“My goal is to win every game, no matter if I score zero or 20,” Edwards said. “I feel like I’m always hyped up, yelling and screaming. I like to get my guys going. So anything to do to help them.”

Vernon called Edwards’ energy “infectious.”

“When he scores a couple, we know that someone else is gonna score a couple after that. It’s just the way that he plays.”

Montreal was led by Curtis Hollis, who recorded 21 points, six rebounds and four assists off the bench.

But head coach Derrick Alston Sr., said his team simply didn’t score enough.

“The majority of our guys came to play today, but for us to have a chance to win these games, we kinda need everybody and today we didn’t have everybody, so that’s what kinda is disappointing,” he said. “But everybody who stepped on the court definitely tried, they competed. We just didn’t have enough to get the win tonight.”

The Alliance, who led the league in turnovers entering Friday’s action, coughed up the ball another 21 times in the loss.

“When you make that many turnovers, you don’t get shots. So it’s recipe for complete disaster,” said guard Alain Louis.

Louis surpassed 500 career points, including playoffs, with 13 points in the loss. He also dished out eight assists.

“It means a lot, but it doesn’t mean a lot, because there’s so much work to be done,” he said of the milestone. “But hey, I’m gonna pat myself on the back.”

Both teams endured slow first quarters offensively, with the Surge making their home fans wait nearly three minutes of game time before scoring their first basket. After 10 minutes, Montreal led by the paltry score of 17-11.

The ball started going through the basket more in the second quarter as the Surge seemed to find their stroke and took a 38-34 lead into the locker rooms.

Calgary extended its lead to 63-56 through 30 minutes and held an 80-65 advantage when the clock turned off for Target Score Time.

While the Alliance punched back with 15 points, Calgary closed it out when guard Stefan Smith hit a tightly contested layup — his fourth winner in just seven games.

The Alliance will soon have leading scorer Jordan Bowden back on the roster after he spent NBA Summer League with the Atlanta Hawks.

Alston Sr., said the goal moving toward Championship Weekend is to find the right balance of practice.

“We gotta be really strategic on how we get the guys ready for that weekend, but I think [Bowden] is the key. He comes back, now we get these guys doing what they’re doing, we get all our top guys playing at a certain level that I know they’re capable of, we’ll be good,” he said.

For Calgary, Vernon said he expected the team’s trio of players at Summer League to return on Sunday. Still, he added that he doesn’t want to shake up the current group’s chemistry too much when they arrive.

“But again, those guys were with us when we started making our turn and won some games with us as well. So we just gotta sit down, see what’s best for us going forward for the next couple matchups and go from there.”

Up next

Calgary returns to action Tuesday for the first of a home-and-home against the Sea Bears in Winnipeg, while Montreal has a full week off before hosting the Saskatchewan Rattlers next Friday.