Resurgent Sea Bears Set to Collide With Stingers in Winnipeg
By Myles Dichter
Two of the hottest teams in the CEBL are set to square off in Winnipeg.
The Winnipeg Sea Bears, winners of three straight at 6-5, will host the Edmonton Stingers, who have won five of their last six games, tonight at Canada Life Centre at 7 p.m. CT. Tickets are still available at seabears.ca/tickets.
Every game in the loaded Western Conference has come with a sense of urgency and stakes this season – and Wednesday’s contest is no different as the Sea Bears put their 5-1 home record to the test against the Stingers’ 6-0 road mark.
Winnipeg has surged since its major mid-season move when the team signed Justin Wright-Foreman and days later released reigning MVP Teddy Allen.
In five games, Wright-Foreman has transformed the Sea Bears by nearly matching Allen’s point production (Wright-Foreman is at 27 points per game, while Allen was at 28.1) and adding 7.2 assists per game to boot.
The American set a CEBL record with 16 dimes to vault the Sea Bears over Niagara in the team’s most recent game. He is also averaging a league-leading 36.4 minutes per game.
Despite their recent success, though, Winnipeg is still tied for third in the Western Conference. What’s more, the fifth-place Saskatchewan Rattlers, who sit just 1.5 games back of the Sea Bears, signed Allen on Tuesday.
It means every contest is critical for the Sea Bears, who will face their ex-teammate twice over their final nine games.
Edmonton, meanwhile, is tied atop the West with Vancouver at 9-3 after both teams earned victories on Canada Day.
With a bye to the West final available to the regular-season conference champion, the battle atop the table is nearly as important as the one for the final playoff spot.
Where Wright-Foreman often shoulders much of the scoring load for Winnipeg, the Stingers’ scoring depth can make it difficult to predict who will lead the charge on a given night.
On Monday, it was Elijah Miller going off for 30 points to beat a short-handed Rattlers team, but Miller isn’t even among the team’s top five scorers. No player on the team averages 30 or more minutes per game, either.
Winnipeg and Edmonton are ranked third and fourth, respectively, in points per game. But the Stingers are the third-stingiest team in the league on defence, surrendering only 86 points per contest. The Sea Bears have had their struggles on that end of the floor, allowing 10 more points per game, the worst mark in the league.
Stingers guard Elijah Miller had made 14 three-pointers in 11 games before Monday.
He nearly doubled that total in a win over the Rattlers, connecting on a CEBL-record 10 triples on just 12 attempts.
Miller, a Rexdale, Ont. product, is now shooting 49 per cent from beyond the arc for the season. He could come out shooting in his first contest since setting the record.
For tickets, visit seabears.ca/tickets. Live broadcast coverage is available on Game+, while you can stream the game on CEBL+ and TSN+.
About the Winnipeg Sea Bears
The Winnipeg Sea Bears joined the Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL) as an expansion franchise in 2023. The city's only professional basketball team plays out of Canada Life Centre from May to August in a 20-game regular season schedule. Winnipeg businessman and lawyer David Asper is the organization's owner and chairman.
More information on the Sea Bears can be found at seabears.ca and @wpgseabears on Instagram, X, TikTok, LinkedIn & Facebook.
About the CEBL
A league created by Canadians for Canadians with a mission to develop Canadian players, coaches, sports executives, and referees, the CEBL boasts the highest percentage of Canadian players of any pro league in the country with 75 per cent of its rosters being Canadian and a record 10 players with NBA experience in 2024. Players also bring experience from the NBA G League, top international pro leagues, the Canadian National team program, NCAA programs, as well as U SPORTS and CCAA. Fourteen players have signed NBA contracts following a CEBL season, and numerous CEBL players attend NBA G League training camps every year. The CEBL season runs from May through August with games broadcast live on CEBL+ powered by BetVictor, TSN, TSN+, RDS, Game+, Next Level Sports & Entertainment andCourtside1891. More information about the CEBL is available at CEBL.ca and @cebleague on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, LinkedIn, Facebook & YouTube
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