The Calgary Surge suffered from a bit of the inaugural, first-ever, season-opening, Battle of Alberta, bringing-pro-basketball-back-to-Calgary jitters… but a gutsy effort landed them the franchise’s first Canadian Elite Basketball League victory.
The Surge will start the season 1-0 after a 74-70 win over the Edmonton Stingers at Markin McPhail Arena at the WinSport Event Centre on Saturday evening. They did so in front of a sold-out crowd of enthusiastic fans yearning for basketball’s big return to Calgary.
(Update: In the return game in Edmonton on Sunday afternoon, the Calgary Surge won 82-81 after being down 16 going into the Elam ending target score of 82. It was a record-setting win.)
Forward Simi Shittu led the way for the Surge with his first double-double of the season, scoring 17 points and adding 14 rebounds. Shittu will also go down in the league record books as the Calgary Surge’s first-ever scorer.
“That’s my game you know, I want to be a two-way player,” Shittu said post-game.
“Rebounding is a really big thing for our team, and I want to be able to affect both ends.”
Stef Smith finished second on the team in scoring with 16, including a game-winning free throw to secure the 74 target score in the Elam ending finish. Smith also added six rebounds, four steals and four assists.
Admon Gilder Jr. shot 71 per cent from the field to lock up 15 points, and Sean Miller-Moore – aka Rugsy – was 75 per cent from the field on 6/8 shooting to finish with 14 points.
Miller-Moore said it felt great to come in and be a contributor in the Calgary Surge’s opening game.
“I kind of made a jump from last year,” he said.
I have great staff, great coaches, great general manager – people that believe in me and let me kind of do my thing, as long as I’m working hard on defense and rebounding and blocking shots. So, it’s a great feeling.”
Channeling the energy
Surge head coach Nelson Terroba said that coming onto the court you could feel the energy and anticipation for the team’s first game.
“I was just pleased that our guys channeled it into defense,” he said.
“They channeled it into finding a way to get those rebounds and stops at the end. Sometimes you’ve got to win ugly and winning ugly is a beautiful thing.”
The team struggled with turnovers early on in the game, with 17 in the first half. They tightened up slightly in the second half, committing 14 turnovers. The Stingers had 20 in the game.
Terroba said they’d review film to look at ways of tightening things up. He said it comes down to mistakes of omission and mistakes of co-mmission. The former is not doing your job and forgetting your assignments, he said. Terroba said the mistakes the team made were due to co-mission.
“It’s when you’re trying so hard because you care so much, and you do a little too much. That’s mistakes of co-mission,” he said.
“I think our team was making mistakes of co-mission; they tried so hard to win a game for the home crowd, trying so hard to do it for this city.”
Edmonton Stingers head coach Jordan Baker said you could feel the seeds of a new inter-provincial rivalry brewing. They knew the energy was going to be a big factor in the game.
“It’s their first win in franchise history. So, they better be celebrating,” he said.
“With the crowd they had tonight, they were loud, they were involved – so kudos to them and I know it’s an exciting time for basketball in Alberta.”
The Calgary Surge immediately head to Edmonton for a return engagement Sunday afternoon (May 28) in Alberta’s capital city.
Big victory for the community
While the team’s first franchise win came on the floor, Calgary Surge Chairman Usman Tahir Jutt said a real victory was bringing all of this together for the community.
“It’s beyond exciting,” he said.
“It’s been wonderful to see the culmination of the hard work that the team has put together to get here. That’s the one that people are going to remember.”
The team had filled the courtyard outside the WinSport Event Centre with games, activities, swag, music and more to build an event atmosphere for all to enjoy.
Surge vice-chairman and president, Jason Ribeiro said opening day for the franchise was surreal.
“I’m looking right now, talking to you and in front of banners that say ‘welcome home,’” he said.
“This aspiration, this vision we have of being the home team for all Calgarians, it’s beyond our wildest imaginations.”
Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek was also in attendance at the Calgary Surge victory Saturday afternoon. She said this was a big deal for Calgary – and thanked Jutt and Ribeiro for their work bringing the experience alive.
“It’s crazy in here right now. Everyone’s going nuts for a game,” the mayor said.
“This is just a lot of passion that Calgary is having for the sport. I’m very excited.”
The mayor also said right from the start she’s seen the Calgary Surge brand reach into all communities – right from their kickoff event last year.
“I came to the kickoff when we were announcing the team and I have never seen that kind of diversity,” she said.
“The room was full of men, women, children. There were people from different ethnic communities. This is truly a community team.”
For the full game boxscore, visit the CEBL website.
Photos from the inaugural Surge season-opener
