Sea Bears riding high

The Winnipeg Sea Bears and Vancouver Bandits will face off for a third time this season with the top spot in the Canadian Elite Basketball League’s Western Conference at stake.

While it may not be the last time the clubs battle with the No. 1 seed on the line, Thursday’s contest at Canada Life Centre (7 p.m.) will play a big factor in deciding which team has home-court advantage throughout the Western Conference playoffs.

The Sea Bears (13-7) are riding high after dismantling the Montreal Alliance 109-80 at home on Sunday, thanks in large part to a historic performance from Teddy Allen, who set a single-game CEBL record with 54 points and broke his own single-season points record, set in 2023.

The Bandits (12-8) remain a dangerous group under interim head coach Rans Brempong despite dropping a tough matchup in Calgary on Tuesday.

Winnipeg and Vancouver split the first two games in the season series, with the home team winning on each occasion.

The Sea Bears will look to continue that trend

“Our home court advantage is just so much different than any other team in the league. We have the most fans, the biggest venue, the most comfortable venue,” Teddy Allen said after Sunday’s contest. “Luckily we only have one more away game this year, and if we do what we’re supposed to do, we won’t play away until hopefully the championship round.”

Here are three pointers to know ahead of Thursday’s tilt.

The Moon effect

The Sea Bears looked to be having the time of their lives on Sunday, and it’s no surprise that their demeanour was so positive on the same night that Xavier Moon made his highly anticipated return to the CEBL.

Moon’s 17 points and 14 assists were something the Sea Bears had been missing from the point guard position this season, but maybe even more impactful was the command that he had of each offensive possession. He’s a floor general in every sense.

“It’s obvious how polished and what a high-level IQ player he is. He’s obviously a great teammate. He did a great job of being ready to play and getting everybody involved, and was certainly worth the wait,” said head coach Mike Raimbault.

The Sea Bears’ 28 assists on Sunday were the most they’ve had in a game this season.

Allen said Moon possesses a gravity that draws the defence away from his teammates, noting he had more open looks on Sunday than he has in any game this season.

More important to Raimbault was that Moon made an equally significant impact on the defensive end, recording four steals and one block as the Sea Bears held an opponent to 80 points or fewer for the fourth time this summer.

“I thought he had some great defensive positions. I mean, he definitely does a really good job of putting pressure on the ball,” he said. “He’s a great communicator, so he adds to our defensive presence when he’s off the ball just by making sure that people are early in the actions that they’ve got to be involved in. I think he’s much more physical than he probably gets credit for a guy his size.”

Full strength

Thursday will be the first game in which Raimbault has the full complement of weapons at his disposal. And what a time for it to come.

It was nearly the case on Sunday, but Simon Hildebrandt was excused from the contest to attend a wedding.

With Hildebrandt returning to the lineup, Raimbault will have the roster he envisioned while signing players throughout the winter and spring months, with a championship in mind.

The last four games of the regular season will work toward securing home court advantage this post-season, but also discovering what lineup combinations work best.

It’s expected to be an informational end of the campaign.

“We’ve been sort of visualizing what our group could look like since (assistant GMs) Alex (Campbell) and Megan (Noonan) and I started to put the pieces in place,” Raimbault said. “We know that (Moon is) a guy that’s going to push the pace and make things easy for everybody. So it definitely was nice to sit back and have them make some decisions on the floor. And we look forward to having a little bit more work ahead and (see) what we’re capable of doing.”

Embarrassment of riches

With the roster at full strength, some tough decisions will need to be made, especially with the club’s import players.

The first came Sunday when guard Trey McGowens was removed from the active roster in the wake of Moon’s return. Jelani Watson-Gayle remained active and ran the second unit off the bench over McGowens, who has started 17 games for the Sea Bears this season.

With Moon, Teddy Allen and Jeremiah Tilmon Jr. as locks to dress every night, and DJ Burns quickly playing himself into an every-night role, the final import spots on the active roster will likely come down to McGowens and Watson-Gayle each night.

“Everything came together in really a short order. Trey was the odd man out (on Sunday),” said Raimbault. “He’s been great for us; he was really good about understanding the situation. A lot of these guys have played a lot of minutes, so the idea of rest for some is appealing. I think everybody would like to play, but we do have some decisions that we have to make, and we also have to use the number of games that we have left to build our rhythm and chemistry, and try to look at what our group looks like with different lineups on the floor and things like that.

“So we understand that we do have some challenging decisions to make. But I think going all the way back to talking about training camp and the entire group’s commitment to trying to be successful, it’s just a buy-in thing, and we’ve been really fortunate that the group has been committed to winning.”

With Hildebrandt returning, that could keep either Nathan Bilamu or Kyler Filewich from being active on Thursday. The Sea Bears would certainly prefer to have an abundance of talent over the alternative, but that doesn’t make these decisions any easier.

“It’s just all part of being a professional. It’s everybody’s job to stay ready, whether you’re playing or not,” Allen said. “Trey’s been amazing for us; we wouldn’t be first place in the West without him, and that’s just how the game goes. Sometimes there’s different matchups. We just have the luxury of having a lot of great players, but one thing I know for sure: when we need Trey, he’ll be ready.”

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