Sea Bears subdue Rattlers, move closer to CEBL playoff berth

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This article was published 20/07/2024 (784 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

On a night when the stakes were at a season-high and emotion filled the air, the Winnipeg Sea Bears rose to the occasion.

With major implications on the line in the Canadian Elite Basketball League playoff picture and former teammate Teddy Allen making his return to Winnipeg for the first time since being released earlier this season, the Sea Bears outlasted their prairie rival Saskatchewan Rattlers 97-93 in front of a 9,105 fans at Canada Life Centre on Saturday.

The win snapped a four-game skid and improved the Sea Bears to 8-9 on the campaign, good for a 2 1/2-game advantage over the Rattlers (6-12) for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.

The top four teams in each conference qualify for the playoffs.

Chad Posthumus was the hero with the winning layup in Target Score Time — a fitting end given his first game-winning basket was waved off by officials, who deemed he committed a foul in his rebound attempt.

“I’m really proud of the team, they’re really working hard, and today was a really big win for us,” said Sea Bears GM and head coach Mike Taylor. “I love the direction of the team, we’ve been up and down, we’ve been through a lot this year, but the guys are really working hard.

“The numbers that really stuck out to me today, when you look at a team’s will, a team’s determination, the 32 offensive rebounds is unbelievable. That is a fantastic number and it just shows that these guys wanted it that bad.”

Allen got his on a night he was booed every time he touched the ball, leading the Rattlers with 24 points in a game-high 37:54 of play.

Justin Wright Foreman, who was under the weather earlier in the day, came off the bench for the Sea Bears and tied a game-high 24 points and five assists while playing 27:43.

While Scottie Lindsey and Jarred Ogungbemi-Jackson chipped in with 15 and 13 points, respectively, it was second-year pro Simon Hildebrandt who stole the show.

The University of Manitoba Bisons’ star exploded for 16 second-half points — including 11 in the fourth quarter — to finish with 19 points and seven rebounds.

“Definitely a big win with playoff implications and everything. I think we really felt like this (was) a playoff game, even though we still (had) four games left. Kind of like, ‘Lock in, we really needed this one,’ so everybody played extra harder and gave 110 per cent,” said Hildebrandt, who was averaging a little over four points per outing entering the contest.

The Rattlers took their first lead of the game at 2:42 in the second quarter when they went up 39-37 and held a 46-44 advantage at the break.

Though they entered halftime down by just a single point, the Sea Bears had certainly left some meat on the bone. While the effort was there — owning 18 second-chance points to the Rattlers six — the Sea Bears shot 31 per cent from the field as a team and were just four-for-17 from beyond the arc.

Meanwhile, the Rattlers showed great efficiency, firing 52 per cent from the field and 41 per cent from deep.

The clubs entered the fourth quarter tied 70-70 after Wright-Foreman sunk a half-court shot at the buzzer, bringing the crowd to its collective feet. The Sea Bears went to Target Score Time, set at 97, with an 88-86 lead.

Despite their inefficiency continuing into the second half — finishing at 37 per cent from the field — the club managed to overcome their shooting woes to grind out a much-needed victory.

“On the bench, the coaches were talking and we were like, ‘Man, it’s tough to score for us tonight,” said Taylor. “It was really not easy, we had to manufacture it, but this is where the defensive effort helped us get into transition and this is where the multiple efforts and offensive rebounding gave us more possessions and more opportunity.”

The Sea Bears entered the game as the statistically worst defence in the CEBL (96.18 points against per game) after conceding more than 100 points in consecutive outings against the Vancouver Bandits.

A slightly better performance prevailed on this night, though players and coaches admit there is still plenty of work to be done in their own end.

“This was a big one, breaking the losing streak,” said Stephane Ingo, who played in his second game since returning to the Sea Bears earlier this month. “Building off this momentum, I think we know what we need to do and it’s really about us, so this was good to get monkey off our back and we’ll look to build on this and keep going.”

The Sea Bears can punch their ticket to the playoffs in their regular-season home finale on Tuesday against the Calgary Surge. Earlier this week the club announced seats in the upper bowl of the downtown arena would be made available for the first time since last year’s playoff game against the Edmonton Stingers.

Winnipeg will finish with its final two contests on the road: first against the Surge again on Thursday and then against the Edmonton Stingers on Monday, July 29.

joshua.frey-sam@freepress.mb.ca

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