Warren puts dagger in Sea Bears

Davion Warren tasted sweet revenge on Friday night.

The former Winnipeg Sea Bears forward, who was released earlier this week following the signing of fellow import Trevon Scott, didn’t have to wait long to get a crack at his old club — three days to be exact.

Now repping the blue and white of the Montreal Alliance, with whom he signed immediately after Winnipeg let him go, Warren made no mistake with the opportunity to impress his new club and prove his former team wrong, scoring a team-high 23 points off the bench to hand the Sea Bears a 97-91 loss at Quebec’s Verdun Auditorium.

Warren, who scored seven of the Alliance’s final nine points, looked like a man who wanted the game to end on his terms in Target Score time. He got his wish with a routine layup that was the final dagger to the Sea Bears, who dropped to 4-4 and capped a season-long four-game road trip with a third loss.

“We knew he was going to try to come at us today. He had a good game. At the end, when he had the ball, he was trying to get the shot in,” said Mason Kraus, who drew Warren’s assignment for long stretches.

Montreal’s victory snapped a three-game losing streak to improve to 3-4.

“I know his game,” Kraus said. “We both know each other, so it was fun guarding him. He just had a great game, so he just got at it.”

Warren averaged 11.5 points, 2.5 rebounds and 1.8 assists in six appearances with the Sea Bears this season. His release didn’t come as a major surprise, given teams can only carry six import players on the active roster, but it’s still understandable if he left Winnipeg with a sour taste in his mouth.

Warren’s scoring ability off the bench can not be overlooked on a night in which the Sea Bears received just 17 points from their reserves and were playing a bit shorthanded.

Emmanuel Akot, who left early in Thursday’s game against Ottawa with what appeared to be a concerning lower-body injury, did not play. Kyler Filewich, who was also forced to exit while holding his head, also did not dress.

David Walker, who did not travel with the Sea Bears, met the team in Montreal to add some Canadian depth.

However, it was Kraus (25:52 minutes of playing time), Simon Hildebrandt (30:09) and Nathan Bilamu (20:29) who were tasked to play bigger minutes. At one point, it looked like Hildebrandt might in for a monster performance, but he finished with 12 points and eight rebounds. Kraus and Bilamu had nine and six points, respectively.

“We had 20 turnovers. We had opportunities to put points on the board, and we actually fed their offence with some of our decisions,” said head coach Mike Raimbault. “Obviously, we didn’t shoot it well, but I think there were enough opportunities for us to find ways to impact the game a little bit more.”

Teddy Allen, coming off his best overall offensive outing of the season the night prior, struggled to get anything to fall from beyond 10 feet. He missed all nine of his shots from deep range.

He still carved out an inefficient 33-point effort on the strength of 13 made free throws.

Allen wasn’t the only one. Winnipeg struggled from beyond the arc for what seemed the first time in forever, connecting on five of 31 attempts.

“It happens. It’s basketball,” said Scott. “We put in a lot of work, and you continue to trust your work, and you continue to shoot the next one, make or miss. It was just us. We had a lot of great looks. You go back and watch the film, we had a lot of good shots, especially myself, and they just didn’t go in, so on to the next.”

Winnipeg held a 25-24 lead after the first quarter before the Alliance took a one-point lead into the locker room. Montreal went up 69-63 after the third quarter, and went into Target Score time ahead 88-77.

Despite their shooting woes, the Sea Bears made it a game down the stretch, opening Target Score time on a 7-0 run to cut the deficit to four. It was too little, too late.

“It was nice to make a run late. I thought we tried to persevere through a bit of adversity today,” said Raimbault. “I thought there were chances where we probably could’ve capitalized and been a bit smarter and tougher with the ball. Unfortunately, it didn’t go our way.”

The Alliance had the rest advantage in this one, with their last game coming before the calendar flipped to June. The Sea Bears beat tje Blackjacks in Ottawa on Thursday.

“I don’t think that was the problem tonight,” said Scott. “We still put ourselves in a position to win the game. We just had a few possessions where we could have been better, to eliminate some of their points.”

“We just had to be more assertive, at the end of the day. That’s it,” added Kraus. “They played hard, and we just didn’t match it.”

Winnipeg will get a week to study the tape before it hosts the Calgary Surge on June 12 (7 p.m.).

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