The Winnipeg Sea Bears lost on the court but won off it on Friday.
A messy 93-85 road defeat to the Calgary Surge at the WinSport Event Centre was far from the follow-up that the Sea Bears were hoping for after clinching a playoff berth earlier this week, but the biggest news of the day was at home.
Before the game, star guard Xavier Moon’s long-awaited clearance from FIBA was granted, paving the way for him to finally join his Sea Bears teammates on the court. Moon will make his season debut on Sunday when Winnipeg hosts the Montreal Alliance at Canada Life Centre (2:30 p.m.).
RILEY MARRA / SEA BEARS
Teddy Allen led the Sea Bears with 18 points.
Moon arrived in Winnipeg over one month ago but was forced to stay on the sideline while he waited to be cleared — a holdup that stemmed from his contract with Zenit Saint Petersburg in Russia.
With that now in the rear-view mirror, the three-time Canadian Elite Basketball League Most Valuable Player is expected to be a massive boon to a Sea Bears squad that is pushing to secure home-court advantage throughout the Western Conference playoffs and can still catch the league-leading Scarborough Shooting Stars to have that right throughout the post-season.
With five games remaining in the fading regular season schedule, the only question will be how quickly Moon can build chemistry with his teammates and find his rhythm on the floor.
His presence will undoubtedly be a welcome addition to the Sea Bears, who have looked out of sync offensively for stretches in two of their last three outings.
On the court Friday, Winnipeg just looked off on many occasions, as they fell to 12-7 and lost to the Surge for the second time this week. Their 16 turnovers were indicative of a shaky performance.
It was a nightmarish third quarter that was the eventual undoing of the Sea Bears in the previous meeting between these two clubs. It was the fourth quarter on this night.
The Surge, who led after each quarter, owned a 14-point advantage entering Target Score Time after outscoring the Sea Bears 16-8 to that point in the final frame.
The turnovers were one thing, but it was a string of poor, empty possessions that made it feel like the Sea Bears were trying to push a boulder up a mountain.
Winnipeg showed fight down the stretch, outscoring Calgary 15-9 in Target Score Time, but Javonté Brown’s game-winning put-back put the Sea Bears’ late charge on ice.
Earlier in the fourth quarter, it was a concerning scene for the Sea Bears when Teddy Allen, who was already having a trying evening, bowed out of the contest in extreme discomfort.
RILEY MARRA / SEA BEARS
DJ Burns scored 16 points and hauled down six rebounds.
Allen fell to the ground on an offensive possession and grabbed at his ankle, but powered through after getting up and walking around gingerly. On the ensuing possession, he went down again, this time in a heap, with an apparent lower-body injury and needed a few minutes to get up before being helped off the court.
Allen returned to the game a few minutes later and finished the game, but the Sea Bears still weren’t at full strength, playing without Jeremiah Tilmon Jr., who fouled out in Target Score Time.
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Allen led the Sea Bears with 18 points on a wildly inefficient night of shooting (26 per cent from the field). For a consecutive game, DJ Burns shone the brightest for Winnipeg, scoring 16 points and hauling down six rebounds in 12:20 off the bench.
The energetic forward has become invaluable to the club since he joined last month. Early on, he made subtle contributions that didn’t always make the box score, but lately his talent has been on full display.
Meanwhile, the Surge notched their fourth-straight victory to improve to 5-13, as they continue their improbable late-season push to the playoffs after a historically bad start. They are now two games back of the Edmonton Stingers for the fourth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference.
Sean Miller-Moore scored a game-high 20 points, while the bench supplied another 40 points.
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Josh Frey-Sam reports on sports and business at the Free Press. Josh got his start at the paper in 2022, just weeks after graduating from the Creative Communications program at Red River College. He reports primarily on amateur teams and athletes in sports. Read more about Josh.
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