Montréal Alliance Power Past Edmonton Stingers With 93-86 Win

Nathan Cayo’s inside scoring fueled the Montréal Alliance to their second consecutive victory with a 93-86 win over the Edmonton Stingers at Verdun Auditorium on Sunday.

Montréal avenged last weekend’s blowout loss to Edmonton in their return home after a four-game road trip.

Cayo and Ahmed Hill paced the Alliance offence with 28 points each in the win. Cayo also tallied six rebounds, six assists, one steal, two blocks and the game-winner while shooting 12-17 from the field. Hill followed up a 32-point night with 28 against the Stingers on 9-15 shooting from the floor and 6-10 from three.

“My teammates continue to tell me to be aggressive every time we come out,” Hill said after the game. “So I try to come out and be aggressive and get myself going. And hopefully, shots start falling and they did tonight.”

Meanwhile, Treveon Graham secured a 14-point, 11-rebound double-double for Montréal and Alain Louis made big plays down the stretch, finishing with 11 points and eight assists. New acquisition Michael Dixon Jr. added 11 points off the bench in his debut with Blake Francis still out with an injury.

For Edmonton, Brody Clarke duelled with Cayo inside and showed off his own incredible post moves. The former Alberta Golden Bear notched 20 points and six rebounds on 8-20 shooting in the loss. Four other Stingers reached double figures on Sunday, with Geoffrey James, Aher Uguak, Nick Hornsby and Martynas Varnas all scoring at least 10 points. In addition to 11 points, Hornsby also grabbed six rebounds and distributed six assists.

“They had two guys who had 56 points – we let them get going early,” Edmonton head coach Jordan Baker said. “They were able to continue the momentum into the second half and we just couldn’t string together enough possessions to claw back.”

Montréal started the game on a tear. Hill drilled a pair of threes and Cayo joined the fun to force a Baker timeout after a 9-0 run. The Alliance stayed hot out of the timeout and the trio of Hill, Cayo and Graham dominated the first quarter. Montréal shot 78 per cent from the field and 83 per cent from three in the opening frame and carried a 32-17 lead into the second.

Edmonton was resilient in the next quarter and fought their way back into the game. Montréal cooled off and the Stingers went on an 18-3 run to cut the deficit back to one point. However, Cayo continued to assert himself and closed the half with a three to give the Alliance a 50-44 lead heading into the locker room.

Montréal started the second half similarly to how they started the first. Hill connected from long range and in the paint, extending the Alliance lead to 18 points. However, Edmonton closed the quarter on a 16-1 run from there. Clarke finished the third with a floating jump shot to cut the deficit to 71-68 heading into the fourth.

Clarke then drop-stepped his way to an and-one to start the fourth quarter and tied the game for the first time since the tip-off. A transition jam from Uguak later in the frame gave Edmonton their first lead of the game. However, the teams traded blows as they awaited the target score whistle. Consecutive layups from Louis gave Montréal the lead and Adika Peter-McNeilly went one of three from the line with a chance to tie. Montréal held an 84-82 advantage heading into target time.

Graham got the Alliance started in target time with a fadeaway that rattled in. Hill finished again and Cayo completed an and-one to put Montréal a field goal away. Cayo capped off an incredible performance by going to work on the low block and spinning past a defender to win the game.

Montréal improves their record to 5-6 on the season, while Edmonton drops to 5-5.

The Stingers return home on Thursday for a rematch with the Shooting Stars at 7:30 p.m. MT. Meanwhile, Montréal continues its homestand in a meeting with the Saskatchewan Rattlers on Wednesday.

All games are available for streaming on TSN+, CEBL+ powered by BetVictor and on the CEBL Mobile app available on iOS and Android devices.

A league created by Canadians for Canadians with a mission to develop Canadian players, coaches, sports executives, and referees, the CEBL boasts the highest percentage of Canadian players of any pro league in the country with 71 per cent of its 2022 rosters being Canadian. Players bring experience from the NBA, NBA G League, top international pro leagues, the Canadian National team program, and top NCAA programs as well as U SPORTS. Nine players have moved from the CEBL into the NBA following a CEBL season, and 28 CEBL players attended NBA G League training camps during October. The CEBL season runs from May through August. More information about the CEBL is available at CEBL.ca and @cebleague on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, LinkedIn, Facebook & YouTube.