Harris clinches victory as Sea Bears take nail-biter over Rattlers

The Winnipeg Sea Bears are learning to cope with their ever-changing world.

Stability has been tough to come by away from the court for the club, which has lost or released seven players from its opening night roster, and now it’s trying to find consistency on the court with the Canadian Elite Basketball League regular season fading and the playoff picture coming into focus.

The latest stop on their path to cohesion brought a nail-biting 98-89 victory over the Saskatchewan Rattlers before 5,871 in attendance at Canada Life Centre on Friday.

Jalen Harris was the hero in Target Score Time as he converted a pair of free throws.

Winnipeg improved to 9-11, while Saskatchewan dropped to 5-15.

“It was a big win. Not only for the win, but I think kind of the stuff that happened within the game,” said Harris, who scored a game-high 28 points, adding six assists and four rebounds.

“Those type of games, the stuff that happens in it is good for us building towards championship weekend. Especially considering it’s here, at home, playing here, playing well in this environment, I think it is good for us.”

The Sea Bears were down yet another regular in the game, as the roster continued to undergo changes as of Friday.

The club announced before the contest that homegrown forward Emmanuel Akot has been suspended from the team after the South Sudan national team’s recent attempt to name the 26-year-old to its team for the upcoming AfroBasket 2025 tournament in Angola.

The Sea Bears have disputed the attempt, citing that Fédération Internationale de Basketball (FIBA) regulations require professional clubs to release players for national team duty only if they receive a minimum of 30 days notice.

The Sea Bears maintain this requirement was not met, and Akot — who did not report to the club’s most recent practice on Thursday — remains under contract and is still obligated to fulfill his commitments to the team.

“We’re disappointed,” said head coach Mike Taylor.

“We found out about this situation maybe a day or two before, so early this week. They’ve already started practice for their Aug. 12 game, so clearly the correct FIBA protocol was not followed. That’s not uncommon for a lot of the AfroBasket teams,” he added.

“Emman kind of put himself in a difficult spot. Our team, especially David (Asper), our owner, has done a tremendous amount for him over this year, with him being injured. He relied on David for support, and part of that situation was, ‘Hey, you’re going to play through the championship weekend.’ So this is not necessarily only about the protocol that wasn’t followed. It was about the principles of when you have an agreement with someone, honouring that agreement.”

Taylor did not comment on whether Akot would play for the Sea Bears again this season, but noted there is work to be done on Akot’s end to repair his relationship with Asper.

Just four players remain from the club’s opening night roster — Geoffrey James, Jaylin Williams, hometown product Kyler Filewich and captain Alex Campbell.

It’s been a constant challenge for players on the team to build the necessary cohesion to win.

“I mean, the CEBL, that’s the nature of this league. It’s a summer league, a lot of people got a lot of stuff going on,” said Campbell. “Obviously, there’s no replacing Emmanuel Akot. That’s our brother, but it’s the next man up with mentality and definitely proud of the guys, how we rallied back today and got the win.”

The Sea Bears improved to 4-6 at home this season and spread the wealth around on offence in the process, as four of five starters reached double-digits in points.

Simi Shittu painted the stat sheet with a 22-point, 11-rebound double-double while dishing out five assists.

The newest Sea Bear, Jarron Cumberland, registered a 12-point, 10-rebound double-double and added six assists in his home debut. Meanwhile, Trevon Scott supplied 14 points and eight rebounds.

Former Sea Bear, Tevian Jones, who left the club to pursue a larger role with the Rattlers, registered 20 points, five rebounds and four steals in his return to the provincial capital.

“There were stretches where it wasn’t the best, but we’re making steps,” said Harris. “I think that the positives from of tonight is kind of we’re looking to move forward, for sure.”

Winnipeg has now won back-to-back games for the first time since its four-game win streak from June 7-20.

The Sea Bears will look to extend its win streak to three when it travels west to face the Vancouver Bandits (15-5) on Sunday (7 p.m. CT).

joshua.frey-sam@freepress.mb.ca

X: @jfreysam