Calgary Surge look to clinch playoff berth in Saturday showdown with Saskatchewan Rattlers

Two Western Conference rivals are set to face-off from the WinSport Event Centre on Saturday as the Saskatchewan Rattlers (-105) visit the Calgary Surge (-133) at 5:00pm local/7:00 pm ET.

The game will be available for streaming live on TSN+, CEBL+ powered by BetVictor, and on the CEBL Mobile app available on iOS and Android devices.

Tonight, will be the second of three regular season matchups between the two squads, and the first since Calgary (9-8) took a dominant 80-63 victory back in June. 

In that contest, the league’s top defence held Saskatchewan (8-10) to just 63 points – they’re lowest point total all season – on 31 per cent shooting from the field, and an even lower 17 per cent from distance. 

As impressive as the performance was for the Surge, it needs to be mentioned that the Rattlers were without the services of the league’s top scorer in that game. Justin Wright-Foreman and his 29.3 points per game on 50 per cent shooting from the field and 45 per cent from deep will likely play a role this time around.

Saskatchewan enter this game as one of the hottest teams in the league, having won four of their last five fixtures. In their latest matchup leading into tonight, they took on the Vancouver Bandits from the SaskTel Centre and handled their business in a dominant 103-82 victory.

In the team’s second highest score total this season, the most impressive part wasn’t Wright-Foreman’s 22 points, instead, it was the two contributions they got off the bench. 

Trey Niemi put up a season-high 20 points on 75 per cent shooting from the field and beyond the arch, while Quenton De Cosey added 16 points and four rebounds. The duo led a second unit that put up 43 points on the night, giving the squad a +9 edge in bench scoring.

What was equally impressive was the Rattlers work on the glass. They outperformed the league’s best rebounding squad (43.1 RPG) in Vancouver and held the team to just 35 boards on the night. Nick Ward of the Bandits, tied for eighth in the league with his 7.5 rebounds a game, was held to just two against Saskatchewan.

Fans of the Rattlers will hope for a repeat effort as they’ll be taking on another top-three rebounding squad in the Calgary Surge (40.5 RPG) in this one.

That Surge team despite struggling as of late – losing three of their last five games – enter this contest on the heels of a 96-82 win over the Winnipeg Sea Bears. The victory not only got them back into the win column, but it also created some much-needed separation for them in the standings as they hold onto second place in the West.

In that game, Calgary’s aforementioned elite defence held the second-highest scoring team in the league (90.9 PPG) to one of their lowest outputs this season. They limited a Sea Bears team that ranks top-two in three-point makes and percentage to just seven triples on the night, on a 23 per cent clip. 

Notably, Teddy Allen, Winnipeg’s top scorer and second in the league with his 26.2 points per game, was held to 14 points and 0-6 from beyond the arch. Calgary’s Sean ‘Rugzy’ Miller-Moore was the main defender on Allen and will likely be looked upon to apply that same kind of pressure on Wright-Foreman in this game.

However, it wasn’t just their defence that impressed that night, it was also their offence. The 96 points was the second-most the Surge had scored all season, and it was largely thanks to a historic performance by big man Simi Shittu. The forward put up 32 points and 15 for the CEBL’s first 30-point, 15-rebound game in league history.

Shittu shot over 70 per cent from the field, making 13 of his 18 attempts, and knocking down two triples along the way. He’s now averaging 16.1 points per game and a league-best 11.1 rebounds, the only player right now averaging a double-double. 

Fans of the Surge should keep an eye on the forward as he tries to replicate that performance against the Rattlers tonight.

In terms of playoff implications, this game is riddled with them, as a win would be huge for both squads. Saskatchewan currently sit in a tie with the Edmonton Stingers for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference, and a win would not only break that tie, but it would even-up their record with the Surge for second place in the West. Vaulting them from the bottom of the conference to nearly the top in the span of a couple weeks.

Calgary will be doing everything in their power to try and avoid that scenario as a win would not only clinch a playoff berth for the squad – in the franchise’s first year in their new home – but also bring them within one game of conference-leading Winnipeg.

All games will also be streamed live internationally on the CEBL’s OTT platform, CEBL+ powered by BetVictor, and on the CEBL Mobile app for iOS and Android devices. Full list of betting props available on BetVictor. Preview written by Zulfi Sheikh (@zulfi_sheikh).

The full western conference standings can be found here.

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