Sea Bears slay River Lions

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 06/08/2025 (235 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

There’s a possibility Wednesday night at the Canada Life Centre was a CEBL championship preview.

If the Winnipeg Sea Bears have it their way, the big game on Aug. 24 will have the exact same result.

Star guard Jalen Harris put Winnipeg on his back with nine consecutive points in Target Score Time to push the Sea Bears to an 86-81 victory over the visiting Niagara River Lions in front of 6,707 fans. Harris drove to the basket and absorbed contact before finishing with his left hand to score the game-winner.

Harris had a game-high 24 points on nine-of-19 shooting. Starting point guard Will Richardson added 20.

With the win, the Sea Bears improved to 10-12. They have two more regular-season outings left before they get to sit and wait for the CEBL Western Conference final on Aug. 22. As this year’s hosts of championship weekend, the Sea Bears are guaranteed a spot in the final four.

Niagara, now 14-8 and the reigning CEBL champs, have already clinched the No. 1-seed in the Eastern Conference and will be back in Winnipeg later this month if they take care of business in the quarterfinals at home on Aug. 16.

“That was clearly on top of our minds. Coach repeated that throughout the week that this could be a team that we could potentially see,” said Harris.

“So I think we were locked in and we were kind of just prepared to learn whatever we could from this game.”

Point guard Terry Roberts suited up for the Sea Bears for the first time since June 27. He left the squad to participate in the NBA Summer League with the Brooklyn Nets, and the Sea Bears were under the impression he’d rejoin them as soon as it concluded on July 20. Instead, he flew home to New York to deal with some family matters which forced Winnipeg to sign former Portland Trail Blazers guard Jarron Cumberland.

Roberts started 10 of the first 12 games this season but came off the bench Wednesday as Richardson — who was brought in to be a reinforcement while the NBA Summer League was taking place — has run away with the starting job.

With Roberts back, the Sea Bears now have six imports. Teams are allowed to dress four on game days. Cumberland and forward Jaylin Williams were the odd men out Wednesday.

“It feels great to be back. It’s even better to be welcomed back with a dub. I’m just happy to be here and keep this going,” said Roberts. “I think we have a great team. A lot of depth on our team, so I’m just really excited to be with this group of guys. I think we have the team to take it to the chip and win it.”

Roberts had 10 points, three rebounds, one assist and three turnovers in 16 minutes of action. The Sea Bears rolled out all three guards — Roberts, Harris, and Richardson — several times to try out a new-look lineup.

“I’m really proud of Terry for being away from the team to fit right in perfectly,” said Sea Bears head coach and general manager Mike Taylor.

“You can see the dynamic playmaking in the backcourt. We can have lineups with Will, Jalen and Terry out there and you got good ball pressure defensively, you got good creativity on offence, and the guys are really connected and really playing well together. I’m really pleased with the first glimpse of it.”

Winnipegger Emmanuel Akot remains suspended after the forward accepted a call up by South Sudan for this month’s AfroBasket tournament in Angola. Under FIBA rules, club teams must be given at least 30 days notice before talent can be pried away for national team duty. Since South Sudan didn’t follow that rule, and Akot’s attempted departure came after the CEBL transaction window had closed — meaning it was too late to bring in a replacement — the Sea Bears are appealing the move and have placed him on the suspension list.

With Akot out of the picture, Nathan Bilamu has been inserted into the starting lineup. The 25-year-old product of Lakehead University was averaging 15.6 minutes per game heading into this week. Bilamu was on the court for more than 32 minutes on Wednesday and managed to chip in 10 points on three-for-11 shooting, nine rebounds, five assists and four steals.

The Sea Bears aren’t sure when they’ll get an answer on their appeal, but regardless of what happens with Akot, they’re thrilled with what they’re getting out of Bilamu.

“I loved Nate’s game today. Really, every game,” said Roberts.

“He gives his all every time he’s out there, he’s very selfless. He plays hard for the team, and for the fans. I think everybody should appreciate Nate as much as we appreciate Nate and I’m just grateful that he’s getting this opportunity to go out there and show what he can do.”

Guard Ron Curry led the River Lions in scoring with 22. Last year’s finals MVP Khalil Ahmad scored 18 for the visitors.

The Sea Bears are back on the court Friday to host the last-place Brampton Honey Badgers (5-17) at 7:30 p.m., before they head to Edmonton on Sunday to close out the season against the Stingers (12-9).

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca