Sea Bears suffer costly loss to Stingers

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This article was published 29/07/2023 (829 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A record crowd of 8,230 fans packed the Canada Life Centre on Saturday night hoping to see the Winnipeg Sea Bears clinch the Western Conference title.

An incredible feat, to be sure, for an expansion Canadian Elite Basketball League club. But it wasn’t meant to be.

Winnipeg’s pro squad and its fanbase didn’t get what they were hoping for as the Edmonton Stingers spoiled the history-making party by registering a 98-86 victory.

The Sea Bears couldn’t claim the No. 1 seed in the West and won’t host a quarter-final game on Aug. 6. Instead, that right goes to the Calgary Surge who won four straight games to finish in first with a 12-8 record.

The Sea Bears also concluded their inaugural regular season at 12-8, but lost the tiebreaker to the Surge as Calgary went 2-1 against Winnipeg in their meetings.

Winnipeg must now host a play-in game on Friday, Aug. 4 at 8 p.m. against the team it just played — Edmonton (9-11). The winner will play in Calgary on Sunday (Aug. 6).

The survivor of that clash will head to the ‘final four’ Championship Weekend in Vancouver (Aug. 11-13).

“Even though we didn’t win the division and didn’t win the regular-season championship, we still have a lot of things to take away from this season that are very great. Especially for the city,” said forward EJ Anosike.

“One thing when we first got here, (Sea Bears owner) Mr. (David) Asper told us the city wants a team that’s going to compete, go hard, and embody the city of Winnipeg and I feel like every game we go out there and compete for the fans. We give them the energy that they’re looking for… I feel like for us, we set a great foundation for the future.

“Now, heading into the CEBL tournament, we just got to continue our brand of basketball. The season isn’t over yet.”

The Sea Bears were without import point guard Jelani Watson-Gayle — a contender to win the league’s sixth man of the year award — as he left last Sunday’s game in Vancouver with an injury. Watson-Gayle’s absence forced head coach Mike Taylor to get creative with his lineup, leading to star shooting guard Teddy Allen handling the point for a large portion of the game.

Taylor’s crew lost another valuable piece in the third quarter when power forward Simon Hildebrandt — a University of Manitoba product — was ejected after committing his second unsportsmanlike foul.

The home side needed a big night from starting Canadian point guard Glen Yang — but didn’t get it. Yang shot just 1-for-12 with three rebounds, one assist, one block and one steal.

The Sea Bears got just five points from their bench. Edmonton’s second unit blew them out of the water with 31 points.

Watson-Gayle is expected to play Friday’s rematch.

“I think with Jelani there’s just another option of set plays and actions we can get to when maybe Teddy needs a break and things like that,” said Taylor.

“I want to give credit to our players for their effort, we tried really hard. We’ve got some things to clean up and we will. But without a doubt, you want to always be healthy and at your best and we were not, but that’s no excuse. We know where we are now, we’re in the playoffs, and we got to bring our best effort on Friday and I think the guys will be hungry after this experience today.”

Winnipeg led 78-72 at one point in the fourth before Edmonton went on a 28-6 run to steal the game. The Sea Bears started the game slowly as they were outscored 28-10 in the paint in the first half and were held to 28 per cent shooting from the field.

That put them in a 48-40 hole after two quarters of play.

Winnipeg ended the game at 40 per cent with most of those makes coming from Allen and his 33 points on six threes. The favourite to win league MVP also registered 10 boards, five assists, two steals and four turnovers. Anosike added 24 points.

As a team, Winnipeg shot 10-for-38 from three. Edmonton went 11-for-25.

“We had plenty of really, really good looks in the game and we didn’t hit them today. It’s one of those things,” said Taylor.

”We did not attack the zone intelligently in terms of our shot selection. We just settled for jacking threes. We didn’t get the ball into the paint, we didn’t pressure the rim. I think in the first half we had five shots at the rim and 22 three point attempts. So, we have to play smarter with our offence and execute better together. Missing a point guard is a big part of that, but we’ll clean it up and be back ready for Friday.”

The Stingers were 2-0 in Winnipeg this year as they stomped the Sea Bears 97-68 on June 12. The Bears beat the Stingers in Edmonton 99-95 on July 8.

“We hate losing and we definitely don’t like losing to the same team more than twice,” said Anosike. “That’s one thing about us, we’re very competitive. I know the energy heading into next week, heading into that game will be at an all-time high amongst the team and we’re gonna be ready.”

The previous CEBL attendance record was set in Winnipeg’s season opener when 7,303 spectators saw them make their debut in a 90-85 win over the Vancouver Bandits.

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @TaylorAllen31