CEBL Highlight Games: Guelph vs Edmonton, 5/24/19
This was the fourth CEBL game for both teams who took to the court at the Expo Centre on May 24th. Home team Edmonton Stingers had lost two out of their first three and were looking to turn it around against the visiting Guelph Nighthawks, who won two out of the first three.
In the first period Edmonton took an early five point lead, after which Guelph went up by the same margin. The Stingers' Mathieu Kamba closed the gap down to one just before the end of what was a back-and-forth start to the game which gave no indication to what would happen next.
The lead continued to change hands when play resumed, but Edmonton once again went up by five courtesy of baskets from Mamadou Gueye and Jordan Baker. Olu Famutimi responded for the Nighthawks, making it a one point game, but Baker responded with five points in a row to keep advantage with Edmonton.
Guelph ended the first half with a five point run of their own to get them to within two points of Edmonton at the half-time buzzer.
As the second half got underway Guelph kept the scoreline tight with Gueye and Baker still trying to initiate a breakaway for the Stingers. Eventually Myck Kabongo put the Nighthawks in front by a point, Edmonton responded with ten unanswered points.
Myles Charvis ended the cold streak for Guelph, but Kamba kept the visitors at a three-point buffer toward the end of the third and had a lead of four going into the decisive phase of the game.
In the final quarter Famutimi put Guelph back in front and they soon had a seven-point advantage at the mid-point of the period. Baker tried to put Edmonton back in front but Kabongo and Jamal Reynolds kept adding to the Nighthawk's tally, keeping them on top.
Grandy Glaze got the Stingers to within one with 2:30 left on the clock, and after many missed attempts for both, he finally put his team back in front and at a critical time in the game. Famutimi and Kabongo kept looking for scoring chances in the remaining time, but came up short each time.
Famutimi had 15 points in the game while Kabongo had 13 for Guelph, but the Nighthawks top scorer would be Chadrack Lufile, who contributed 18 off the bench in the loss. Jordan Baker finished with 23 points and 13 rebounds for Edmonton, playing a big part in their close ecounter with Guelph. In the end they got the win by 82 points to 80.
