Stingers host Sea Bears in potential West Semifinal preview
The Edmonton Stingers welcome the Winnipeg Sea Bears to Edmonton EXPO Centre on Monday night for a third, and final, regular season matchup.
Live coverage begins at 7 p.m. MT / 8 p.m. CDT / 9 p.m. ET and fans can catch all the action on CEBL+ powered by BetVictor, TSN+ and on the CEBL mobile app available for iOS and Android devices.
There may not be playoff implications entering the contest with both teams locked into the two and four seeds in the Western Conference, but the outcome could be telling depending on how things shake out.
Following the regular season finale, Winnipeg will visit the Calgary Surge for the West Play-In and should they win, they face Edmonton in the Conference Semifinal. Which is why a win for either team could be a timely confidence boost heading into the postseason and potential matchup down the road.
The Stingers enter the matchup with plenty of rest and on the heels of a bounce back performance. Edmonton picked up a 91-87 win over the Saskatchewan Rattlers on Jul. 18 that snapped a three-game skid.
It was an efficient outing for the Stingers led by Brody Clarke’s 22 points, nine rebounds and two steals, and Nick Hornsby’s 21 points, six rebounds and eight assists. The duo spearheaded Edmonton’s rim-running assault as the squad shot 52 per cent from inside the arc for 60 paint points (plus-18), helping the Stingers overcome the fact they were outshot from the field and distance.
Meanwhile, Winnipeg is coming off an 87-83 loss to the Calgary Surge that snapped a two-game win streak.
What cost the Sea Bears a game in which they outshot the Surge from the field and distance, and led all the way into Target Score Time, was struggles on the glass. Calgary racked up 55 rebounds (plus-19), 25 of which came on the offensive end (plus-17) for 17 second chance points on 13 extra shot attempts.
Despite the narrow loss, the Sea Bears depth shined through as the bench scored 44 points (plus-20). Leading the second unit was Jarred Ogungbemi-Jackson with 18 points on 7-of-9 shooting from the field through 17 minutes of action.
2024 Season Series
Both squads have a win against the other this season entering Monday’s matchup.
Edmonton won the first game, 97-87, leading by as many as 21-points in a wire-to-wire victory. A major catalyst for the Stingers was their dominance at the rim, shooting 62 per cent inside the arc for 58 paint points (plus-24) and collecting 47 rebounds (plus-13) for 10 extra shot attempts.
Meanwhile, the Sea Bears took the rematch -- a high-scoring affair that came down to the wire. Once the dust settled, Winnipeg earned a 102-101 victory. Leading the way was Justin Wright-Foreman who scored a game-high 34 points on 60 per cent shooting from the field and distance to go with five rebounds, five assists and two steals.
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