Edmonton Stingers beat Niagara River Lions to win second CEBL title in a row

EDMONTON — The Edmonton Stingers beat the Niagara River Lions by a large margin to win the Canadian Elite Basketball League final Sunday.

Edmonton won every quarter to eventually finish the game 101-65 – the largest margin of victory in the CEBL post-season.

It was the Stingers’ second CEBL title in a row, and they got to celebrate in front of 2,710 fans at Edmonton’s Expo Centre.

“It’s what we set out to do,” said Stingers coach Jermaine Small. “You visualize these things and they happen. It almost feels like it’s not real sometimes. And then it just became reality.

“I got to give them (Niagara) a lot of credit. They’re good. We just wanted it more.”

Xavier Moon finished with a double-double and led the Stingers in scoring with 28 points and 10 assists. Edmonton’s Jordan Baker also had a double-double, with 19 points and 10 assists.

Philip Scrubb led Niagara with 17 points and shot 5-of-8 from beyond the three-point line. His brother, Thomas Scrubb, added 15 points and six rebounds.

“I feel like we kind of hit a bit of a wall,” River Lions coach Victor Raso said. “(Edmonton) is a good basketball team who was just hungry for every loose ball.

“Our guys started to lose a bit of confidence and started to get drained and they just kind of put the pedal to the metal.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published August 22, 2021.

The Canadian Press