Powered by Calgary native Olumide Adelodun’s game-high 17 points, Calgary secured a 94-76 win over the Niagara River Lions in their final game of the regular season.
The team’s second Saddledome game of the year and third ever had similar attendance numbers to the Surge2Stampede game, but was a louder and more lively environment, according to Adeledun.
“I think there were more people than the Stampede game, at least it felt like there was, it was much louder,” he said.
The final attendance for Sunday’s game was 6,671.
In the absence of lineup-regular Rugzy Miller-Moore, Surge head coach Kaleb Canales opted for a deeper lineup, including players like Will Tong and Ben Kamba, both getting their first taste of CEBL action in the season finale.
Tong, a graduate of both Father Lacombe High School and SAIT, didn’t score but had six rebounds in 17 minutes played. Bishop McNally High School grad, Kamba, had seven points in his 22 minutes.
In the Surge’s three Calgary high school alums sharing the court for the first time, Adeledun found a special feeling.
“I played with Ben (before the Surge), he’s little older, but I played with him, and it was nice being on the court. I had one more (pass) to him, and he hit the three, so that was a cool moment for sure,” he said.
“(We’re) just three Calgary guys proving that we have some hoopers here.”
Rostering local area talent was no handout, said team president Jason Riberio, stating that every role within the organization, Calgarian or not, is deserved.
“It’s not a given, we didn’t have an edict of there had to be X amount of Calgary players, this has been earned, earned not only from the perspective of our leadership on the court, from (team general manager) Shane James, who’s assembled this team or (head coach) Kaleb Canales, who has just brought the best out of all of us as an organization,” Riberio said.
As the team heads to their third playoff appearance in as many years, Riberio’s proud of the team’s ability to stay competitive and “never being bad,” knocking on wood, as he said so.
Surge have been playoff-ready since day one, says coach
Heading into the postseason with three-straight victories, Adelodun said that there hasn’t been a point in the season where the locker room felt they weren’t championship-ready.
“I don’t think there’s a single moment during the season where anyone thought otherwise. I think, obviously, I think the league knows it too,” he said.
Canales, speaking from his time coaching in the NBA, said that the coaching staff has done some advanced work looking into the Edmonton Stingers, the team’s first playoff opponent.
The Surge finished the year at 17 wins and 7 losses, good for second in the CEBL. They start their win-or-go-home playoffs Thursday at the WinSport Event Centre.
“We’ve been playoff ready since our first team meeting. I think this game speaks to our culture. It speaks to the character of our players,” Canales said.
“We’re ready for Thursday.”
More photos from Sunday’s Calgary Surge game:
