The 2023 CEBL season was the fifth season of the Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL). It began on May 24, 2023, and the regular season ended on July 30, 2023. It was the inaugural season for the Calgary Surge and the Winnipeg Sea Bears. The Calgary Surge relocated from Guelph while Winnipeg was added as an expansion franchise.

2023 CEBL season
LeagueCanadian Elite Basketball League
SportBasketball
DurationSeason: May 24 – July 31
Play-in games: August 4, 2023
Playoffs: August 6–13
Number of games20 per team
Number of teams10
TV partner(s)TSN
Draft
Top draft pickSimon Hildebrandt
Picked byWinnipeg Sea Bears
Regular season
Top seedNiagara River Lions
Season MVPTeddy Allen
Top scorerJustin Wright-Foreman
Championship weekend
VenueLangley Events Centre
Langley, B.C.
ChampionsScarborough Shooting Stars
  Runners-upCalgary Surge
Finals MVPIsiaha Mike
Seasons

This year was the first season where the league was divided in two conferences. The top four teams in each conference qualified for the playoffs; had the Vancouver Bandits finished in fifth place in the Western Conference, the fourth-place team would have been eliminated instead; as hosts, the Bandits automatically qualify for the semi-finals as a de facto first-place team, along with the first-place team from the Eastern Conference. The playoffs commence with the third- and fourth-placed teams in play-in matches, with the winners facing their own conference's second-place teams in the quarterfinals. The quarterfinal winners will then face their respective division semi-final opponent.[1]

On March 16, 2023, CEBL announced a television deal with TSN: TSN will televise weekly games and broadcast the rest of the games online, and they will also televise the championship weekend.[2]

Teams

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2023 Canadian Elite Basketball League
Eastern Conference
Team City Arena Capacity
Brampton Honey Badgers Brampton, Ontario CAA Centre 5,000
Montreal Alliance Montreal, Quebec Verdun Auditorium 4,100
Niagara River Lions St. Catharines, Ontario Meridian Centre 4,030
Ottawa Blackjacks Ottawa, Ontario TD Place Arena 9,500
Scarborough Shooting Stars Toronto, Ontario Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre 2,000
Western Conference
Calgary Surge Calgary, Alberta WinSport Event Centre 4,000
Edmonton Stingers Edmonton, Alberta Edmonton Expo Centre 4,000
Saskatchewan Rattlers Saskatoon, Saskatchewan SaskTel Centre 15,100
Vancouver Bandits Langley, British Columbia Langley Events Centre 5,276
Winnipeg Sea Bears Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada Life Centre 15,321

Map of teams

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  Eastern Conference   Western Conference

Regular season

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Standings

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Western Conference

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Pos Team Pld W L PF PA PD PCT Qualification
1 Calgary Surge 20 12 8 1648 1631 +17 .600 Advance to quarter-finals
2 Winnipeg Sea Bears 20 12 8 1812 1802 +10 .600 Advance to play in games
3 Edmonton Stingers 20 9 11 1737 1661 +76 .450
4 Vancouver Bandits (H) 20 8 12 1707 1792 −85 .400 Advance to championship weekend[a]
5 Saskatchewan Rattlers 20 8 12 1688 1745 −57 .400
Source: CEBL
(H) Hosts
Notes:
  1. ^ Automatically qualified for championship weekend as the host team.

Eastern Conference

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Pos Team Pld W L PF PA PD PCT Qualification
1 Niagara River Lions 20 13 7 1833 1714 +119 .650 Advance to championship weekend
2 Ottawa BlackJacks 20 12 8 1767 1719 +48 .600 Advance to quarter-finals
3 Scarborough Shooting Stars (C) 20 11 9 1731 1726 +5 .550 Advance to play in games
4 Brampton Honey Badgers 20 8 12 1698 1719 −21 .400
5 Montreal Alliance 20 7 13 1640 1752 −112 .350
Source: CEBL
(C) Champions

Results

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Teams BHB CGY EDM MON NIA OTT SSK SSS VAN WPG BHB CGY EDM MON NIA OTT SSK SSS VAN WPG
Brampton Honey Badgers 93–80 77–103 89–65 84–101 82–88 78–80 98–74 75–71 72–82 103–86
Calgary Surge 74–70 75–83 85–82 86–79 79–64 65–79 77–82 97–81 85–67 96–82
Edmonton Stingers 81–82 92–68 99–94 85–91 79–74 89–91 92–78 95–99 91–83 85–86
Montreal Alliance 82–94 74–77 93–88 84–69 97–76 79–88 72–104 89–85 69–89 80–83
Niagara River Lions 87–79 99–86 100–93 87–101 116–74 99–81 87–78 98–91 99–82 98–89
Ottawa Blackjacks 95–93 89–75 82–93 97–86 93–82 89–90 99–86 79–60 83–86 87–89
Saskatchewan Rattlers 86–84 63–80 70–89 75–90 88–89 79–65 109–85 93–96 89–92 103–82
Scarborough Shooting Stars 93–73 88–83 103–93 90–84 85–83 84–96 79–82 93–98 97–90 79–88
Vancouver Bandits 91–96 84–81 90–80 74–79 93–97 92–89 103–106 88–93 84–74 79–90
Winnipeg Sea Bears 110–89 100–75 68–97 96–88 93–90 86–78 90–85 86–98 96–99 93–84
Source: https://www.cebl.ca/result2fiba
Legend: Blue = left column team win; Red = top row team win.

Attendance

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As of August 1, 2023[a]
Pos Team Total High Low Average Change
1 Winnipeg Sea Bears[b] 54,846 8,230 3,504 5,484 n/a
2 Edmonton Stingers 34,736 3,996 3,500 3,859 +100.8%
3 Niagara River Lions 31,063 3,971 2,448 3,106 +36.6%
4 Calgary Surge 29,797 4,116 2,324 2,979 +101.0%[c]
5 Montreal Alliance 28,795 3,500 2,307 2,879 −1.7%
6 Saskatchewan Rattlers 1,958 1,958 1,958 n/a
7 Ottawa Blackjacks 19,240 2,553 1,366 1,924 +5.9%
8 Vancouver Bandits[d] 8,566 4,566 1,000 1,713 n/a
9 Brampton Honey Badgers 15,736 3,451 618 1,573 −13.1%[e]
10 Scarborough Shooting Stars 15,157 1,665 1,025 1,515 −7.1%
League total 238,869 8,230 618 2,843 +55.9%

Source: [1]

  1. ^ The following teams did not report attendances:
    • Edmonton on May 28
    • Saskatchewan for all games except May 31
    • Vancouver on June 6, June 17, June 25, July 1, July 9
  2. ^ Attendance for June 23 was recorded incorrectly.
  3. ^ As the Guelph Nighthawks.
  4. ^ Attendance for July 14 was recorded incorrectly.
  5. ^ As the Hamilton Honey Badgers.

Playoffs

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Bracket

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Play-in round
August 4
Quarterfinals
August 6
Semifinals
August 11
Championship
August 13
E1Niagara71
E2Ottawa72E3Scarborough74
E3Scarborough98E3Scarborough77E3Scarborough82
E4Brampton74W1Calgary70
W1Calgary77
W1Calgary84W4Vancouver75
W2Winnipeg81W3Edmonton68
W3Edmonton87

Play-in games

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Note: all times are local
August 4
7:00pm
Scarborough Shooting Stars 98, Brampton Honey Badgers 74
Scoring by quarter: 18–19, 27–17, 25–22, 28–16
Pts: Cat Barber 32
Rebs: Isiaha Mike 9
Asts: Kalif Young 10
Pts: Callum Baker, Shamiel Stevens 16
Rebs: Zane Waterman 10
Asts: Callum Baker 4
Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre, Scarborough, Ontario
Attendance: 1654
Referees: Tony Turnbull, Chris Bucella, Farhan Baig
August 4
8:00pm
Winnipeg Sea Bears 81, Edmonton Stingers 87
Scoring by quarter: 23–23, 18–22, 24–21, 16–21
Pts: Teddy Allen 35
Rebs: Simon Hildebrandt 11
Asts: Teddy Allen 5
Pts: Isiah Osborne 24
Rebs: Nick Hornsby 14
Asts: Brody Clarke 6
Canada Life Centre, Winnipeg, Manitoba
Attendance: 10580
Referees: Michael Weiland, Ryley Kerrison, Frank Rizzuti

Quarterfinals

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August 6
7:00pm
Ottawa Blackjacks 72, Scarborough Shooting Stars 77
Scoring by quarter: 14–15, 23–15, 25–20, 10–27
Pts: Jakeenan Gant 21
Rebs: Zena Edosomwan 8
Asts: Matthew Coleman III, Kadre Gray 5
Pts: Isiaha Mike 24
Rebs: Isiaha Mike 13
Asts: Myck Kabongo, Kassius Robertson 4
TD Place Arena, Ottawa, Ontario
Attendance: 2519
Referees: Max Audette, David Maxin, Greg Spagnoli
August 6
7:00pm
Calgary Surge 84, Edmonton Stingers 68
Scoring by quarter: 21–13, 27–16, 12–21, 24–18
Pts: Stefan Smith 21
Rebs: Sean Miller-Moore 12
Asts: Stefan Smith 7
Pts: Brody Clarke 19
Rebs: Brody Clarke 10
Asts: Munis Tutu 5
Winsport Arena, Calgary, Alberta
Attendance: 3089
Referees: Reed Scott, Neil Donnelly, Mitch Strom

Championship Weekend

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Semifinals

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August 11
5:00pm
Niagara River Lions 71, Scarborough Shooting Stars 74
Scoring by quarter: 20–14, 12–21, 15–18, 24–21
Pts: Jahvon Henry-Blair 20
Rebs: TJ Lall 8
Asts: Khalil Ahmad 5
Pts: Cat Barber 15
Rebs: Kalif Young 11
Asts: Kyree Walker 7
Langley Events Centre, Langley, B.C.
Attendance: 1000
Referees: Michael Weiland, Reed Scott, Ryley Kerrison
August 11
7:30pm
Calgary Surge 77, Vancouver Bandits 75
Scoring by quarter: 22–15, 16–18, 13–20, 26–22
Pts: Stefan Smith 25
Rebs: Jordy Tshimanga 10
Asts: Sean Miller-Moore 4
Pts: Nick Ward 21
Rebs: Giorgi Bezhanishvili 8
Asts: Doug Herring Jr. 8
Langley Events Centre, Langley, B.C.
Attendance: 5000
Referees: Tony Turnbull, Jayson Stiell, Max Audette

Championship

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August 13
4:00pm
Calgary Surge 70, Scarborough Shooting Stars 82
Scoring by quarter: 19–16, 13–25, 19-19, 19–22
Pts: Jordy Tshimanga 15
Rebs: Jordy Tshimanga 15
Asts: Stefan Smith 5
Pts: Cat Barber 23
Rebs: Isiaha Mike 9
Asts: Isiaha Mike 7
Langley Events Centre, Langley, B.C.
Attendance: 5000
Referees: Tony Turnbull, Michael Weiland, Max Audette

Awards

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Source: [3]


All-CEBL teams

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First Team Pos. Second Team
Player Team Player Team
Simisola Shittu Calgary Surge F Deng Adel Ottawa BlackJacks
Teddy Allen Winnipeg Sea Bears G Kadre Gray Ottawa BlackJacks
Justin Wright-Foreman Saskatchewan Rattlers G Christian Vital Brampton Honey Badgers
Cat Barber Scarborough Shooting Stars G Ahmed Hill Montreal Alliance
Khalil Ahmad Niagara River Lions G F E. J. Anosike Winnipeg Sea Bears

All-Canadian team

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Pos. Player Team
F Simisola Shittu Calgary Surge
F Thomas Kennedy Scarborough Shooting Stars
F Jackson Rowe Ottawa BlackJacks
G Kadre Gray Ottawa BlackJacks
G Sean Miller-Moore Calgary Surge

Individual statistic leaders

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Category Player Team(s) Statistic
Points per game Justin Wright-Foreman Saskatchewan Rattlers 29.2
Rebounds per game Simisola Shittu Calgary Surge 10.6
Assists per game Kadre Gray Ottawa BlackJacks 6.3
Steals per game Khalil Ahmad Niagara River Lions 2.4
Blocks per game EJ Onu Niagara River Lions 2.0
FG% Nick Ward Vancouver Bandits 61.9%
3P% Jelani Watson-Gayle Winnipeg Sea Bears 49.0%

CEBL Clash

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The first CEBL Clash is a "showcase game featuring 20 players from around the league",[4] scheduled to be played on August 26, 2023 at Videotron Centre in Quebec City, Quebec. Head coaches were announced on August 15,[4] followed by rosters on August 18.[5] Each team is represented by at least one player, with the nearby Montreal Alliance having a Clash-leading four players on Team East. Team West ended winning the Clash 107-102.

Notes

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References

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  1. ^ "Fifth anniversary season to feature new two-conference model". CEBL. Retrieved 2020-06-25.
  2. ^ "TSN to Showcase CEBL Game of the Week, Tipping Off May 24". CEBL. Retrieved 2020-06-25.
  3. ^ "Allen, Gray Earn Top Honours at 2023 CEBL Awards". cebl.ca. August 10, 2023. Retrieved August 22, 2023.
  4. ^ a b "Exilus, Terroba Named Head Coaches For CEBL Clash". August 15, 2023. Retrieved August 22, 2023.
  5. ^ "CEBL ANNOUNCES ROSTERS FOR THE CLASH ON AUGUST 26". August 18, 2023. Retrieved August 22, 2023.
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