2020 CEBL Championship Game - Full Recap
No sooner had it began that it was all over. The 2020 CEBL had reached its last game just weeks after beginning its reduced, behind closed doors series at the Meridian Centre in St. Catharines. Two teams had put in a lot of work to stay in title contention and this is where it was all going to pay off, but just for one of them.
It didn't come as much of a surprise that, after two elimination rounds, the championship game would be contested by the league's leading teams. Top seeded Edmonton Stingers, with just one loss to their name, would be taking on the Fraser Valley Bandits, who finished the round robin in second place.
Both had clear paths to the championship game: Edmonton's semi-final opponents were the Ottawa Blackjacks, who had overcome the Guelph Nighthawks 83-75 in the first round, but couldn’t do the same against Edmonton, even with four of their five starters finishing in double digits.
Fraser Valley's place in the final was earned after more contentious match-up with the Hamilton Honey Badgers. In front for all of the second half, Hamilton then blew a six-point lead at the game’s end, where Olu Ashaolu made two lay ups in a row - only points of the game - to win for the Bandits 76-75 and book their place in the final.
Flash forward to August 9th and for the two winning teams it all came down to one last game at the Meridian Centre - the winner leaving showered in glory.
Mambi Diawara had the first points of the game, a three for Edmonton, with Xavier Moon adding more. It didn’t take long for the Bandits, though, to close the gap, then level the scoreline, after which Tavarion Nix and Marek Klassen put them up by three. A late layup from Kareem South made sure that Edmonton were ahead by one at quarter’s end.
When play resumed Moon had six points in a row for the Stingers, which Junior Cadougan followed up with five himself, putting Fraser Valley in front, until Edmonton reclaimed the lead after a 6-0 run. The teams exchanged baskets to the end of the first half, at which point Edmonton were ahead 39 to 35.
The Stingers began the second half with a six point run, then another midway through, making their lead stand at double digits. Edmonton continued to be accurate from inside the paint, keeping Fraser Valley at a distance, despite the best efforts of Malcolm Duvivier and Olu Ashaolu, who was able to bring the gap down to five early in the fourth quarter.
Moon & Adika Peter-McNeilly restored the Stingers' double-digit advantage from beyond the arc. They, Brody Clarke and Jordan Baker continued to add to the scoreline while the Bandits could not find a response, nor instigate a late steal. Edmonton had ten points in the final phase of the game, reaching a final score of 90-73, sealing the win and the title of 2020 CEBL champions.
Junior Cadougan was the Fraser Valley Bandits' leading scorer with 13 points, one of six players to finish in double digits in the loss. The standout player was undoubtedly Xavier Moon; posting 31 points in the contest, he easily scooped up the Finals MVP award in addition to being part of the team that had played the best basketball of the past weeks and finished their run as worthy winners.
