Sea Bears send big crowd home happy

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This article was published 16/07/2023 (1162 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Winnipeg Sea Bears rewarded the 6,378 fans inside the Canada Life Centre Sunday afternoon with one of their best performances of the season.

Winnipeg’s professional basketball team dominated the Calgary Surge in all phases of the game en route to a 100-75 victory.

It was the second largest crowd in Canadian Elite Basketball League history. The Sea Bears set the record in their inaugural game when they had 7,303 spectators.

“Honestly, it might sound kind of crazy, but I feel kind of used to it at this point,” said point guard Glen Yang. “It feels like a lot, but every game feels on fire. You could definitely notice there’s a lot of energy.

Shooting guard Teddy Allen added: “I can’t tell you how many times guys (from opposing teams say) ‘This is like the NBA.’ We definitely got the best fans.”

The win pushed the Sea Bears to 11-6 which is the best record in the West Division. Calgary fell to 8-8 but remains one spot behind the Bears. The Vancouver Bandits, who are hosting CEBL Championship Weekend (Aug. 11-13), and the overall No. 1 seed in the 10-team league at the end of the 20-game season receive byes to the semifinals.

The third and fourth-ranked teams in each conference will play a play-in game with the winners advancing to the quarterfinals to meet a No. 2 seed.

The Sea Bears, who head to Calgary to play the Surge again on Thursday, clinched their postseason spot on Saturday after the Saskatchewan Rattlers (6-10) lost to the Edmonton Stingers. Winnipeg plays their final home game on July 29 against Edmonton.

“What I really like is the guys are not satisfied. It’s like ‘Alright, let’s get our best playoff position possible and let’s go for it,’”– Sea Bears head coach Mike Taylor

“What I really like is the guys are not satisfied. It’s like ‘Alright, let’s get our best playoff position possible and let’s go for it,’” said head coach Mike Taylor.

“This is what I like the most about the team, our focused effort on areas that are going to help us improve and be ready when it matters the most in the postseason.”

Allen continues to solidify his case for the league’s Most Valuable Player reward as he led all scorers with 37 points while adding five rebounds, five assists, and four steals. He’s now scored 30-plus points in three straight games.

The 25-year-old from Phoenix drilled four three pointers in the opening frame to finish with 18 points in the first quarter.

“They call him Teddy Buckets for a reason. Honestly, a lot of us on the bench, I don’t know if you guys notice, but some of his buckets we’ll look at each other and go ‘You can’t teach that,’” said Yang.

“This guy, he’s special. He’s got talent, he’s a scorer, it’s in his name, and it’s just natural to him.”

Yang also came up big with a season-high 15 points. The 26-year-old product of Calgary had just 13 points in the last four games.

“Guys like Teddy in the locker room, the coaching staff, the whole organization, it’s been nothing but support. They’re always telling me to be aggressive. The last couple of games I don’t think I’ve been at my best aggressiveness wise so I was just trying to be aggressive from the start,” said Yang.

“It felt good and you know, playing Calgary as well so there was a little extra chip on my shoulder being a guy who’s from there.”

“Coaches preach defence all the time. We know we can score, we got guys like Teddy, E.J. (Anosike), and all across the board we can score.”– Sea Bears point guard Glen Yang

Calgary was missing two of their top players in forward Trevon Scott and centre Simi Shittu and it showed. They couldn’t get anything going offensively as they entered the fourth with only 43 points. The Surge, who also lost seven-footer Kylor Kelley to an injury in the second half, jumped out to an early 8-0 lead before things went sideways. They shot 38.7 per cent from the field and committed 19 turnovers to Winnipeg’s 10.

Calgary defeated the Sea Bears 97-81 at home back on June 18.

“They started the game hitting a couple shots in a row, but there was no panic on our side because we know how hard we work,” said Yang.

“Coaches preach defence all the time. We know we can score, we got guys like Teddy, E.J. (Anosike), and all across the board we can score. When we lock down like that, I don’t think any teams can really compete.”

Jelani Watson-Gayle contributed 16 points and Anosike chipped in with 15. Winnipeg, who has now won back-to-back games after beating the Montreal Alliance on Friday, made 17-of-44 three point attempts and led by 39 points in the opening minutes of the final quarter.

“We respect Calgary, we know they’re going to be right there in terms of playoffs,” said Taylor.

“For us, we’re not satisfied. It’s a great milestone that we made the playoffs as an expansion team. That’s wonderful for everyone, but we’re not satisfied.”

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @TaylorAllen31