Akot inspired by dad’s memory in Sea Bears homecoming

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 26/06/2024 (781 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Emmanuel Akot couldn’t have crafted a much better ending.

First a crucial rebound. Then a winning shot in Target Score Time as the 25-year-old Winnipegger lifted the Sea Bears to a 103-101 Canadian Elite Basketball League win over the Saskatchewan Rattlers before 7,817 delirious home fans on June 22.

The finish capped a 25-point, five-rebound and five-assist effort by 6-8 Akot, who has seized the opportunity to shine on the court in front of family and old friends in his hometown.

It would have been perfect but for the absence of his dad, Matthew Thot, who died suddenly on March 10.

Thot was only 51, leaving his wife, Abuk Akuei, Emmanuel and daughters Martina, Lizzie, Alexa and Destiny behind to grieve.

“It was a shock,” said Akot, who was in the midst of his rookie pro season in the Netherlands when he got the news. “I didn’t know he was ill, but he had liver damage. It just happened randomly. I talked to him the exact same day (he died). There were a couple of months left to go into season. I had started to play a little better and then got hit with the news.

“I ended up leaving the Netherlands. I came over here for a month, stayed with my family and then I went back to finish the season. It was definitely tough. It’s still hard, but you got to keep going every day.”

Akot has persevered, using his dad’s memory as inspiration. On game days like Thursday, before the Sea Bears host the Niagara River Kings at 7 p.m., he’ll visit his dad’s grave site for “extra motivation.”

Thot was a major influence in his life, helping to guide Akot’s basketball journey from Winnipeg to Wasatch Academy in Utah for prep school and then five years of NCAA Division I at Arizona, Boise State and Western Kentucky.

“He was my dad, we could talk about anything,” said Akot. “He understood the game and he gave me advice. He understood life. He was a pastor, so he kind of led me into my faith more when I was down or going through things. He was just my go-to for everything.

“So it’s been rough, but also feel like it’s given me a little bit of strength. Knowing that obviously he’s still looking down on me. I have a family to take care of and it’s given me strength and more motivation than ever just to make something out of my career, for him and my family.”

Chiranjit Goswami, who coached Akot during his middle school years as a member of the Winnipeg Wolves basketball club, said Thot’s guidance was important as Emmanuel negotiated the sometimes unseemly world of college recruitment.

“He was very focused on dealing with quality people and having those kinds of people around Emmanuel and he was a pretty good judge of character and honesty from the people who were contacting him,” said Goswami. “He did contact me a few times to kind of vent about some of the coaches or people surrounding his recruitment down in the States.”

Having his mom in the Canada Life Centre stands for a June 16 game against the Edmonton Stingers was a rare opportunity. It was the first time she had witnessed her son play in person, never seeing him play during his prep or college career.

“My mom has to work so much so it’s hard for her to watch,” said Akot. “She hasn’t been able to see the last two games but my sisters have come to every game, which is really good.

“With everything that’s happened I think they’re just happy to have me here, regardless of the basketball and just being able to come home and see my old friends again, the whole family and being in the city, with all the support, has been amazing.”

In four games since finishing his season in Europe, Akot has responded just as Sea Bears GM and head coach Mike Taylor had hopes.

“His versatility is something special,” said Taylor. “We have him playing a lot as a big wing on the perimeter, and then he’s been super impactful as an athletic five (centre). He has the ability to defend all five positions on the floor.

“He allows us to switch screens but what’s really impressed me is his ability to just play with confidence. He just gets out on the court makes plays.”

His old coach loves what he’s seen so far.

“I think they’re really using him well right now — kind of as a Swiss Army knife,” said Goswami. “That’s the best role he can serve on a team is doing a little bit of everything and displaying his diversity of skill sets, his position-less athleticism. He is kind what we saw when he was young — the ideal FIBA athlete. He can play any one of the five positions and he can defend multiple positions.”

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca