Surge edge Sea Bears, advance to West semis

Despite seeing a first half 18-point lead evaporate down the stretch, the Calgary Surge held on for an 84-82 win over the Winnipeg Sea Bears in the Western Conference Play-In game on Friday.

With the game tied at 82-82 and both teams needing just one more basket in order to advance to the West Semifinal, it was fitting that Calgary, a team that hangs its hat on getting stops, found offence through its defence as Mathieu Kamba got a steal that put a packed WinSport Event Centre crowd on its feet before Corey Davis Jr. drove down the left side of the floor and hit a baseline fadeaway to seal the deal.

“For Corey to take that on his when we really needed it,” Surge head coach Tyrell Vernon said following the win. “It was a huge shot, and it was a testament to who he is.”

Kamba finished the game with a game-high 27 points, which tied his season-high, on 55 per cent shooting from the field to go with seven rebounds. Davis Jr. added 23 points, making five-of-nine triples to go along with eight assists and two steals.

Meanwhile, Sean Miller-Moore chipped in with 13 points, 14 rebounds, six assists and two steals.

On the other side, the loss marked a third consecutive defeat for the Sea Bears going back to the regular season, despite a valiant comeback. Leading Winnipeg in its final game of the year was Emmanuel Akot who scored 23 points to go with six rebounds and three steals. Justin Wright-Foreman, the league’s top-scorer for the second year in a row, added 20 points, seven rebounds, four assists, a steal and a block.

“Really proud of our team,” Sea Bears head coach Mike Taylor said after the loss. “We showed fight and heart, gave ourselves several chances to win, today the ball bounced Calgary’s way … tough to lose like this.”

Calgary had surged (pardon the pun) its way to a double-digit lead as early as mid-way through the first quarter -- with the game tied at 11-11 at the 4:16 mark, the Surge went on a 17-1 quarter-ending run that put them up 28-12.

Leading the charge was Kamba who had 13 points on six-of-seven shooting and arguably the highlight of the season when he blocked an above-the-break three from Mason Bourcier and collected the loose ball himself to throw down a dunk in transition.

“I was trying to go out there and lead,” said Kamba reflecting on his impressive opening quarter. “If they see that I’m playing 100 per cent, people will follow. We have the guys and talent, it’s just about someone taking the lead … playing as hard as I can and bringing people along."

Another reason why the Sea Bears trailed was because their offence had managed to make just one field goal through the first 10 minutes of play while losing the rebounding battle 16-6. Had it not been for Winnipeg’s early physicality being rewarded with 11 free throws, 10 of which it made, the deficit would’ve been even greater than 16 points.

Thankfully for Sea Bears fans, the taps finally opened towards the end of the second quarter, as they hit four threes in the final two minutes. A Hildebrandt triple at the 0:20 mark of the first half capped off an 11-2 run that had cut the deficit down to single digits, but Miller-Moore immediately responded with a jumper at the buzzer that made it 46-36 for the Surge at halftime.

And come the end of the third quarter, Winnipeg had cut the lead down even further. Like it had been through the second quarter, three-point shooting was the great equalizer for the Sea Bears who hit four in the frame. The lead would’ve been cut to just five points had it not been for Malcolm Duvivier who knocked down a three of his own at the buzzer, keeping the Surge up 66-58.

The Sea Bears even got it to within one-point in the fourth quarter on an Akot layup at the 6:41 mark before trailing 75-71 headed into Target Score Time. And once Akot made back-to-back baskets in the stoppage period to tie the ball game, effectively silencing the Calgary crowd, the comeback seemed all but inevitable.

But the Surge, when they needed it most, made the type of hustle plays that have defined them all season. Calgary forced two turnovers – Kamba first dove after poking the ball loose in transition and deflected it out of bounds off Wright-Foreman, before getting a steal on Stephane Ingo that led to the game-winning basket.

“In winning time possessions we had too many turnovers,” Taylor said on what ultimately cost Winnipeg down the stretch. “We worked so hard defensively to get stops and then to not capitalize was tough.”

Even before those moments, the Surge had initially built its lead by dominating the rebounding battle. By the end of the contest, Calgary had collected 54 rebounds (plus-39), 26 of which came on the offensive end, for 26 second chance points on 17 extra field goal attempts.

“Resiliency,” said Vernon when asked what he liked most in the win. “We didn’t give up, we took a punch … they kept jabbing at us and we never bailed out.”

Up next

With the win, the Surge will now make the short trip from Calgary to Edmonton where they’ll take on the Stingers in the Western Conference Semifinal on Sunday.