The Calgary Surge (7-5) (-121) will look to defend home court tonight at 7:00 pm local/9:00 pm ET against the Scarborough Shooting Stars (5-5) (-111) who are in the thick of a bunched up eastern conference playoff race. 

As the season moves past the halfway point, all five teams in the CEBL’s eastern conference are separated by only one game. 

Scarborough, who used a four-game win streak to overcome a 1-4 start, sit in a tie for second place in the east. But they are coming off a disappointing shooting performance in a loss to the Saskatchewan Rattlers on Sunday.

In that game, the first of their three-game road trip, the Shooting Stars shot 1-26 from three point range and scored a season-low 65 points. Cat Barber, who struggled with foul trouble in the first half of that game, finished with a team-high 18 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 steals. 

Kyree Walker also chipped in with 15 points and 9 boards in a losing effort. 

The Atlanta, Georgia product, who previously played with the Capital City Go-Go in the NBA G League, has provided an immediate spark for Scarborough since joining the team on June 18. 

In just four games, Walker has averaged 15.3 points and 5 rebounds per game. He is also averaging 1.8 steals per contest, which ranks him just behind Cat Barber (2.2) who sits third in the league in steals. 

Calgary, meanwhile, returns to the WinSport Event Centre after going 1-2 on a three-game road trip last week. 

After losing the first two games of that trip—to Brampton and Niagara—the Surge salvaged the trip with their first win of the season against the Vancouver Bandits. 

Calgary had five players, including four starters, score 11 points or more in that game. Sean Miller-Moore, as he has been doing all year, led all Calgary scorers with 23 points and shot 61 per cent from the field. Guard Stef Smith chipped in with a 13 point, 12 assist double-double. 

Smith is leading the CEBL in total assists with 64. And Simi Shittu, who recorded 7 points and 8 defensive rebounds in the win against Vancouver, is leading the league with 8.5 defensive boards per game. 

Although Shittu is leading the CEBL in defensive rebounds, the difference in the game tonight may be who can collect more offensive boards—and turn those second chance opportunities into points. 

Scarborough (85.5) has a slight edge on Calgary (83) in points per game this year, but has an even bigger advantage on the offensive glass. 

Calgary enters tonight’s game averaging a league-low 9 offensive rebounds per game. Scarborough currently leads the league in offensive boards with nearly 14 per contest. 

But the Surge will look to counter by protecting their paint. Led by Kylor Kelley’s league-leading 2.4 blocks per game, Calgary is averaging over five blocks per game—which is the most in the CEBL

This will be the first and only meeting between Calgary and Scarborough in the regular season. 

After tonight’s game, Scarborough will travel to Edmonton tomorrow night to conclude their road trip. Calgary will take a one-week break before returning to game action next Wednesday against the Stingers.