The Stingers are in. Edmonton’s Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL) team has secured a playoff berth next week, eliminating the Calgary Surge with a 100-89 win over their provincial rivals on Sunday at the Expo Centre. The Stingers (9-13) came into a home-and-home set with the Surge (7-15) needing just one win to finish at least fourth in the Western Conference. Calgary won the first game on Friday in the southern Alberta city before Sunday afternoon’s 4 p.m. tip-off. Starting guard Scottie Lindsey led Edmonton with 19 points as six Stingers recorded double digits in scoring, including bench players Kendrick Roy (14) and Tre King (13). Forwards Isaac Jack and Nick Hornsby grabbed six rebounds and notched five assists for Edmonton, respectively, to lead those categories. The win puts the Stingers a game and a half behind the third-place Saskatoon Mamba (10-11). Leading the West are the Vancouver Bandits (14-8), with the Winnipeg Sea Bears (13-9) second. The Stingers have two games left in the regular season, both home contests, the next one critical to their fortunes: vs. the Mamba on Friday (7 p.m.) at the Edmonton Expo Centre. They’ll wrap up their season schedule on Sunday against the visiting Ottawa BlackJacks. The CEBL playoffs start Aug. 6, when the first seed hosts the fourth and the second seed welcomes the third in each conference. Conference final games follow two days later before the best-of-three league finals Aug. 12-16. The Surge eliminated the Stingers in the first round of the playoffs last season before ultimately losing in the league final to the Niagara River Lions.
