Gilyard II, Nelson Jr. power Surge past Stingers in Battle of Alberta play-in

The Calgary Surge's floor general role was never meant to be shared by two people.

Evan Gilyard II was supposedly brought in as a patchwork solution for Jameer Nelson Jr.’s absence during NBA Summer League. But when Nelson Jr. finished what Gilyard II started during Target Score Time in Thursday night’s West Play-In game, it was clear that the Surge had put together the makings of a vaunted pairing for a post-season run.

“It’s super special and we’re super spoiled having both of them,” Canales said of the Surge’s guard duo. “Both are knocking on the door of an NBA contract. They play both ends at a high level, so we’ve been very spoiled by both of them.”

The pair combined for over 50 per cent of the Surge’s offensive production as they picked up a 103-95 win over the Edmonton Stingers in Calgary.

None was more important than their back-to-back buckets once the clocks stopped to seal the victory — a triple from Gilyard II to put the Surge just two points away from the win, followed by Nelson Jr. cutting in off an inbound pass and finishing at the rim for the game-sealing play.

“It makes the game easy for everybody around us,” Gilyard II said of his pairing with Nelson Jr. after the win. “He makes the game easy for me, I make the game easy for him … and it keeps our opponents on their heels.”

Gilyard II’s 28 points were not only a team-high showing but also a Calgary playoff record. The import guard finished 10-of-18 shooting with four made triples and five assists. Nelson Jr. added 26 points on 9-of-18 shooting, with six rebounds, seven assists and two steals.

Behind the backcourt pairing were strong performances from Sean Miller-Moore with 19 points and Greg Brown III, who scored 17 and posted eight rebounds and three blocks.

“I loved the fight from our group,” Surge head coach Caleb Canales said post-game. “We stuck to our identity, especially in the second half. We did a good job taking Edmonton’s punch in the first half and we made plays down the stretch … it was a great way to end our games at home.”

On the other side, the loss marked a third consecutive playoff loss for the Stingers at the hands of the Surge. Sean East II did his part, however, as the MVP finalist broke the CEBL playoff scoring record with 36 points on 11-of-17 shooting. Meanwhile, Scottie Lindsey and Taye Donald off the bench chipped in 17 and 15 points, respectively.

“We fought, we fought hard,” East II said after the loss. “We just didn’t come out with the win because of lapses … turnovers, not getting back on defence and we just never got control, we just didn’t pull it out.”

With a trip to Vancouver for the Western Conference semifinal on the line, and Battle of Alberta bragging rights sandwiched in between, it was only fitting that the Play-In matchup between provincial rivals went down to the wire.

The first half proved to be a stalemate between two squads that saw their first two matchups of the season decided by a combined five points. Following a 25-25 opening frame, the Stingers managed to lead 50-48 at the break thanks to an East free throw seconds before the buzzer.

The import led all players with 20 points at halftime following a torrid 5-for-6 shooting start on the night.

Yet the third quarter was when Calgary began to seize momentum in a game that had seen neither team lead by more than six points to that point and countless lead changes.

The Surge chained runs of 12-4 and 13-0 en route to a nine-point lead headed into the final frame — an effort spearheaded by Gilyard II’s 14-point showing in the quarter, highlighted by his back-to-back triples and free throws at the 3:18 mark as part of an individual 8-0 run.

“(At halftime), we came into the locker room and had a talk about giving it our all,” Gilyard II explained of how the Surge won the third quarter 30-19. “Playing with effort, play as a team and live with the results.”

Although Gilyard II’s burst seemed like enough for the Surge to maintain the game’s first double-digit lead to that point (72-61), Donald hit a triple to end the Stingers’ three-minute scoreless drought and then dropped a layup moments later to cut Edmonton’s deficit to nine ahead of the fourth.

“We let them do what they do best, turning us over and getting going in transition,” Baker said after his team gave the ball away four times in the frame en route to 15 for the game. “We didn’t take care of the basketball … some of the discipline stuff we talked about all year long. We didn’t do it for 40 minutes.”

The Stingers' charge didn’t stop there, however, as the road team tied the game midway through the final frame after a 12-2 run. Elijah Miller nailed a transition triple and then Nick Hornsby followed up with a turnaround middy as the game was knotted at 87-87 with five minutes left.

Fortunately for the 2,776 in attendance at the WinSport Event Centre in Calgary, the Surge’s go-to duo on the night stepped up yet again. Nelson Jr. got to the line and followed it up with a dump-in layup as he helped push the lead back up to seven points (94-87) at the start of Target Score Time.

And once the clocks stopped, Nelson Jr. and Gilyard II were the only Surge players to score, bookending the closing stretch with a layup each.

Box Score

https://www.cebl.ca/game?id=2696067

Up next

The Surge now ready themselves to take on the No. 1-seed Vancouver Bandits on Saturday in the West Semifinal for an opportunity to take on the Sea Bears in Winnipeg and see who might represent the Conference come the CEBL Final.

“We played hard, put everything on the line and fought through to get the win,” Gilyard II said. “(Heading into Vancouver), we’re trying to do the same thing, go out there and fight to put ourselves in a position to win a championship.”

Next CEBL action

A Battle of Ontario matchup between the Scarborough Shooting Stars and host Ottawa BlackJacks in the East Semifinal will tip off Saturday’s playoff slate.

For the full 2025 CEBL schedule and up-to-date results, please visit cebl.ca/games.