That is one of the best ways to respond to a two game losing streak. After coming off one bad, one tough loss, the Winnipeg Sea Bears bounced back in Edmonton to defeat the Stingers in what looked like was going to be a boring, ugly game. After taking a first quarter lead, the Sea Bears were looking like they had in the first two games of this three game road trip. It was sluggish on defence, not being able to get stops. The offence also looked quite rough, and stiff, unable to get anything going. But, in the second quarter things started to change. For the first time this season, I can say that Simon Hildebrandt was able to keep Winnipeg in the game long enough to get going. Once it was tied at half, after that, it felt like the Sea Bears were in control the rest of the night. Sure, there were moments where it felt like they may lose, but overall they looked good. In Sea Bears fashion, they of course had to make it interesting in Elam Time but they were able to close it out. Before I ruin my next segment and talk about my observations, let’s get into my three important keys from this game.

Welcome Back Depth

I know summer time is normally for vacations, and taking time off. Unfortunately that is not the case when it comes to the CEBL season. After a couple games of the Sea Bears depth doing a disappearing act, they decided to reappear for a dramatic reentrance (yes that is a word, according to Merriam-Webster). Hildebrandt and Jelani Watson-Gayle went nuclear, combining for 10 threes made, and 41 points. I will even throw in Shane Osayande having 11 points and seven rebounds in 12 minutes as a good depth performance (he did start, but played little minutes). While Teddy Allen and E.J. Anosike had 17 and 19 points respectively, it was not either of their best games. It really felt like once they got going, this was the offences most balanced and complete performance of the season.

Limiting Main Scoring

While I don’t want to say this was a defensive masterclass from the Sea Bears, they did get stops when they needed to. They also did a good job of limiting the main offensive pieces Edmonton was trying to work around. Brody Clarke and Adika Peter-McNeilly were not available for this game, which did help. But normally this Stingers team likes to score by committee, and they needed to late on in this game to stick around. Winnipeg did a great job not letting Isiah Osborne get going after a hot start. As well as, making sure Shane Gibson didn’t give them fits off the bench. While this team does thrive when other players are taken out of the game plan, it was enough for the Sea Bears to get the win.

Keeping More Possesions

While looking at the stats, I did not even realize that Winnipeg won the turnover battle. But if you were to re-watch that game over, you can definitely tell they did not give away as many possessions against the Stingers. The Sea Bears did a much better job at taking care of the ball, and at least getting a shot up. The only exception to this was Anosike, who had six turnovers (yikes). If you take those away, the rest of the team had a total of four. That is really good. I am not expecting them to stay at that elite of a level, but if they can continue to be around the 10 mark, and those don’t become “bad” turnovers, I will be very pleased with that.

Having now looked at my three important keys to the game in Edmonton, let’s move on to the individual performances.

Simon Hildebrandt

I have now made a rule that whoever I think had the best game, gets the first slot in the individual performances category. For this game, I thought about giving it to Watson-Gayle but Hildebrandt deserved it. This was by far his best game of the season. His offence is best explained by just looking at the box score, but I have to say that he looked much better defensively this game. There weren’t as many plays that made me cringe, or go “yikes, that was bad.” Overall I hope he uses this game as a building point for the back half of the year, because the Sea Bears might need him to continue to stretch the floor. None of their other bigs can do that, and it gives the team another wrinkle on that end of the floor.

Jelani Watson-Gayle

This guy is so so good. 6th Man of The Year.

Teddy Allen

A quieter game for Allen, but he still had an impact. 17 points is nothing to slouch at, and he did get the Target Score winner. Still my MVP candidate.

E.J. Anosike

After a stretch of really good games, I am not sure if Anosike covered himself in glory with the six turnovers. Otherwise, he still filled the stat sheet and played just fine. I wouldn’t worry too much about him. He will be just fine.

Shane Osayande

I was very surprised to see that Osayande got the start in this one, but it felt like a better matchup defensively against Meshack Lufile. I also think that Osayande would have had the start against Brody Clarke if he had played. It looked like a smart decision by coach Mike Taylor on the first possession when Osayande stopped Lufile trying to score around the rim, and grabbed the rebound. As much as he doesn’t do much more than defend, rebound, and clean up around the rim, he is more athletic than a Chad Posthumus. Osayande is a much better fit in a league that revolves around more smaller 5’s. Good game overall.

Tyler Sagl

Sagl has not played a lot this season, but expect him to get more minutes down the stretch. He cannot do much more on offence other than be a spot up shooter, but he is not a liability defensively. He is also quite a scrappy player for his style of play. I love it. Sagl when he gets into games does seem to get the closing minutes, which I find quite interesting from coach Taylor, playing him over A.J. Hess most times. By playing later in these games, he also seems to hit timely threes when the Sea Bears need them, which is quite handy. He got 12 minutes in this one, expect about the same against the Rattlers on Tuesday.

Chad Posthumus

I mentioned Posthumus above as not getting the start in this one. Was not the matchup/team for him to play against. Although, I would have liked to see him play more when Carlton Bragg Jr. was in the game, he didn’t need to be. Posthumus only played five minutes in this one, but still scored, and rebounded a couple times each. Steady as they come. Expect him to be back into the starting lineup against Saskatchewan, with him needing to guard Julian Roche.

Glen Yang

We are back to Yang being a non-factor. It sucks, but it is what we have come to. Unfortunate.

A.J. Hess

Non-existent against the Stingers. Played 23 minutes to not do too much. I do with coach Taylor had pulled him earlier to play Sagl more, which we did see down the stretch. I am not sure if Hess is ever going to get going.

Stephane Ingo

Ingo stepped in for Michael Okafor in Edmonton. I am not sure why that was, whether it was a benching for Okafor by coach Taylor, we will never know. Ingo played eight minutes and did not contribute much. As harsh as this is to say, I would have much rather had Okafor play those eight minutes, and be a hound defensively. You have Osayande to be the mobile, rim protecting big, rather than Ingo.

Final Thoughts

Overall this was a pretty good game on the Sea Bears part. They return home to play their only nationally televised home game of the season against prairie rival, the Saskatchewan Rattlers. I have a good feeling about this one, but we will see which Sea Bears team comes out at tipoff. Let’s hope we can make it 3-0 against Saskatchewan this season.