Edmonton Stingers hold off Calgary Surge in Red Deer CEBL game

Published 6:45 pm Sunday, May 31, 2026

Red Deerians got another taste of professional basketball on Sunday, May 31.

The Canadian Elite Basketball League’s two Alberta teams, the Calgary Surge and Edmonton Stingers, travelled to Red Deer for the second consecutive year to face off in a regular-season Battle of Alberta at the Marchant Crane Centrium.

“I love these Battle of Alberta games,” said Edmonton guard Scottie Lindsey

“Last year was a classic game and was packed. Coming here again is exciting. Calgary versus Edmonton is such a great rivalry and they’re always close games.”

Perry Huang, Surge head coach, said he thought “the energy was great” inside the arena.

“It’s nice getting to walk on the sidelines without having people yell at you like the other road games we’ve had so far,” Huang said.

Edmonton defeated the Surge 104-98 in front of a raucous Red Deer crowd of more than 2,500 people.

“We had a good week of practice leading up to the game. We had some good film sessions on stuff we could do better,” said Lindsey.

“I think we came out with good energy from the start. We didn’t necessarily play great defence, but we were together, we talked and we got through. It was a good win for us.”

Despite losing the game, Calgary battled to make it close towards the end. The Stingers had a 12-point lead heading into the fourth-quarter.

The CEBL has a unique fourth-quarter format called “Target Score Time.” After the first dead ball with four minutes remaining, the score clock is turned off. The two teams then race to reach a target score, which is nine more than the leading team.

By the time the Surge and Stingers reached Target Score Time, Calgary trailed by just two points. But Edmonton guard Stanley Davis Jr. squashed the Surge’s comeback efforts by scoring the game-winning shot.

“We dug ourselves too big of a hole. There was a lack of focus and a lack of attention to detail,” said Huang.

“There has to be a collective effort to focus on the defensive end more. … We’re going to have to play defence. It’s on me figure out how to get through to these guys and figure out how to get them to defend at a high level.”

With this victory, the Stingers improved to 2-3. The Surge fell to 0-5.