Sea Bears fall to the Edmonton Stingers, suffer fourth straight loss

Justin Wright-Foreman (13) is seen dribbling the basketball against the Edmonton Stingers on June 16, 2024. (Winnipeg Sea Bears)

The Winnipeg Sea Bears head coach is wanting his team to channel their energy more positively on the court. Those comments came after a fourth straight loss for Winnipeg, falling to the Edmonton Stingers.

It was a matinee affair for the Sea Bears on Father's Day, as the team was back on home court following a four-game road swing.

It was a tough stretch as they went 1-3 on the road, which included losing three straight games.

The struggles held strong Sunday with Edmonton in town. The Stingers have yet to lose while playing in Winnipeg and the trend continued.

"We talk about playing positive, using our energy in a positive way on the court. Fans probably saw, there was several disagreements in our huddle, there was lots of chatter and talk between players. Tremendous amount of wasted energy," said head coach Mike Taylor.

It was a slow start for Winnipeg who trailed early 9-1 and were down 29-20 at the end of the first half.

It didn't get better in the second quarter as they were down by 20 points and went into the locker room at halftime behind 59-41.

"We've got to focus and use our energy the right way on the court and that is playing positively, playing within the system and playing for each other."

The negative energy started to boil over in the third, as Sea Bears players jawed with one another on the bench and on the floor – which led to some easy baskets for the Stingers.

Despite the setbacks, they were able to close the gap slightly in the third ending the quarter down 76-61.

The offensive improvement continued for Winnipeg in the fourth as they were able to make it a 10-point game when the target score was set, which was 97.

However, the earlier deficit was too much to overcome and they would end up losing by 10, 97-87.

Teddy Allen led the way for Winnipeg with 39 points, followed by newly signed Justin Wright-Foreman getting 22. No other player for the Sea Bears eclipsed the double-digit mark.

On the Stingers' side of the ball, there was a lot more distribution with six players scoring 10 points or more, led by Brody Clark with 17 and Nick Hornby with 16. Mindaugas Kačinas also tallied 14 points and was 50 per cent shooting beyond the three-point line.

Following the game, Sea Bears guard Mason Bourcier said the team is close to breaking through, but they need to stick together.

"We are making the efforts. It's not going to be pretty when you have a changing roster and you add these new additions," said Bourcier. "It comes down to staying locked in. We can't let our minds go. We have to come together on defence every possession, not every third possession, every fourth possession."

He said the team is too talented to be where they are right now.

"I don't see this as 'uh-oh, uh-oh.' Don't overreact…It's just a matter of time. As long as we keep everybody in that locker room together."

Winnipeg homecoming 

It was a homecoming of sorts for one of the Sea Bears Sunday, as Winnipegger Emmanuel Akot played his first game in front of his hometown crowd.

He signed with the team back on June 13, and in his Winnipeg debut, he logged 19:59 minutes and scored seven points.

He said it was an exciting moment to be back in Winnipeg and play where he grew up, noting it was the first time his mom was able to watch him play basketball in 10 years.

Winnipeg will be back in action on Wednesday when they host the Vancouver Bandits. Tip-off is at 7 p.m.