Wright-Foreman the hero as Sea Bears rally to steal win from Bandits

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This article was published 19/06/2024 (823 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The post-Teddy Allen era had a faster, grittier look for the Winnipeg Sea Bears Wednesday night.

Two days after cutting loose their star guard, the Sea Bears watched a promising third-quarter lead evaporate to fall behind by 12 points at the onset of Target Score Time only to stage a furious rally to beat the Vancouver Bandits 88-84 in Canadian Elite Basketball League action before 7,393 fans at Canada Life Centre.

Justin Wright-Foreman banked home a three-pointer for the decisive shot, capping a 22-6 run for the hosts in Target Score Time.

“I always feel a win is possible,” said Wright-Foreman, who finished with a game-high 32 points, including seven in Target Score Time. “One thing I’ve learned in life and especially in this league that no lead is safe… I feel like today we did our overall team effort to win this game.”

Emmanuel Akot had 15 points, three rebounds and four assists for the winners, while teammate Simon Hildebrandt had 10. Winnipeg’s Mason Bourcier chipped in with three points, three steals and three rebounds.

At the time of his release for disciplinary reasons, Allen, the CEBL’s MVP in 2023, led the league in scoring average (28.1 points per game) and was second in minutes (34.2), made three-pointers (3.3) and free throw percentage (89.8 per cent).

“My teammates had great confidence in me,” said Wright-Foreman, describing the winning shot. “The coaching staff, everybody in the building had confidence in me and my job was just to let it fly. I knew it was going to hit the backboard but we got the win and that’s the most important part.”

The win snapped a four-game losing skid for the Sea Bears, who improved to 4-5 nearing the mid-point of the 20-game regular season.

Western Conference-leading Vancouver fell to 7-2.

At halftime, Winnipeg led 46-37 while holding a 24-17 rebounding edge on the visitors. Vancouver finished the game with a 43-40 rebounding lead.

“I’m really proud of the team,” said GM and head coach Mike Taylor. “It’s been a lot (going on) in the last 10 days. We tried to focus all of our energy on being together and moving forward and we did that today. We talked about our response has to be completely together and I think they did that. I’m particularly proud of Mason who moved into the staring lineup and was a plus-30, impacting the game on both ends.”

Bandits star guard Taze Moore, who scorched the Sea Bears for 35 points, 16 rebounds and 11 assists in Vancouver’s 112-91 win on June 13, was limited to 15 points, eight rebounds and six assists.

Duane Notice led the Bandits with 19 points.

With Allen’s departure, Winnipeg has one import spot to fill and Taylor plans to remedy that situation.

“I think we would like to find somebody who’s a piece to what we’re doing because we really like our roster,” said Taylor. “I feel like we’ve got some really good options and hope to have something resolved shortly.”

Sea Bears guard Jarred Ogungbemi-Jackson (back) missed his second consecutive game.

Winnipeg continues its five-game homestand Saturday against the Saskatchewan Rattlers. Game time is 7:30 p.m.

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca