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ANDY MAHON PHOTO<\/p>\n
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Winnipeg Sea Bears guard Xavier Moon works his way into the paint against the Vancouver Bandits at Canada Life Centre on Thursday.<\/p>\n
The clubs will face each other one last time in the regular season finale in Langley, B.C. on Aug. 2 \u2014 a matchup that could feature a winner-take-all scenario.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe knew what was at stake. We know that if we want to be No. 1 in the West, we\u2019re gonna have to go through them,\u201d said Xavier Moon, who had 15 points and eight assists in 37:15 of action. \u201cSo I think we\u2019ve got to be better offensively and defensively, and we\u2019ll watch the film, and then we\u2019ll get better, and obviously we\u2019ll see them at the end of the year.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Sea Bears held leads of 29-21 and 51-47 in the first two quarters before the Bandits scrapped their way to a tie game after the third frame.<\/p>\n
Vancouver outscored Winnipeg 22-7 in the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, the rhythm of the game wasn\u2019t in our favour,\u201d said head coach Mike Raimbault. \u201cI thought they were more physical than us. We didn\u2019t score a few times where we had opportunities to convert, and they punished us by coming down the floor. There\u2019s a big one where we have a chance to make a layup \u2014 get a little bit of momentum \u2014 and we miss, and they hit a corner three. You know, they capitalized on all of the momentum turns that weren\u2019t in our favour.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Sea Bears were dominated inside the paint and on the glass on this night. Vancouver out-rebounded Winnipeg 50-28 and outscored the hosts 62-34 inside the paint \u2014 a pair of telling stats for where things went wrong in this one.<\/p>\n
Bandits centre James Karnik delivered a 17-point, 12-rebound double-double while forward Dominic Parolin hauled down another eight rebounds.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t ANDY MAHON PHOTO<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Bandits centre James Karnik drives to the hoop in the Bandits 92-77 win over the Sea Bears, Thursday.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re a really big team,\u201d said Simon Hildebrandt, who supplied 14 points and four rebounds off the bench. \u201cI think they did a really good job of forcing us to finish off one foot and to finish off balance, and maybe a little bit farther out than we wanted to instead of right at the rim with power. They\u2019re a big team, and I do think they made us a little bit uncomfortable at the rim tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n The story of the fourth quarter could be seen on the game-winning possession when Karnik outmuscled a pair of Sea Bears for the rebound and scored an easy put-back to ice the contest.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were in foul trouble in the first half, so that was definitely a factor in terms of them chipping away at the lead that we happened to build,\u201d said Raimbault. \u201cI mean, obviously they were more physical than us in a lot of portions of the game, so that was problematic for us.\u201d<\/p>\n Teddy Allen led the Sea Bears with 26 points in 38:16 of playing time, while Jeremiah Tilmon Jr., who left the game in Target Score Time with an apparent eye injury, supplied 12 points.<\/p>\n Unlike the last time the Sea Bears and Bandits met, standout Canadian forward Tyrese Samuel was in the lineup for Thursday\u2019s contest. There was speculation that reigning MVP forward Mitch Creek could make his return to the lineup for this one, but that proved not to be the case, maintaining what looked like a major hole in Vancouver\u2019s lineup.<\/p>\n Five Bandits stepped up in the scoring department, supplying double digits in points. Guard Jarkel Joiner led the charge with 24 points, following up on his last outing against Winnipeg when he went off for 34 points in a win.<\/p>\n \n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n \t\t\tThe Warm-Up<\/p>\n Winnipeg Jets Game Days<\/p>\n On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop.<\/p>\n \t\t\tSign up for The Warm-Up<\/a><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t \u201cSpeedy guard, small,\u201d Moon said. \u201cThey get him going downhill really well, and when he\u2019s making shots, he\u2019s really difficult to guard.\u201d<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t ANDY MAHON PHOTO<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Sea Bears forward Jeremiah Tilmon Jr. had 12 points against the Bandits before leaving the game in Target Score Time with an apparent eye injury.<\/p>\n The Sea Bears won\u2019t have time to dwell on this missed opportunity. They are back in action for an important out-of-conference matchup against the Brampton Honey Badgers (9-10) at home on Saturday (2:30 p.m.).<\/p>\n \u201cThe response will be the same as if we had won,\u201d Raimbault said. \u201cWe have a really short turnaround to our next game. We get to look at it tomorrow as a group, and I think there\u2019s a lot of teachable things in possessions that we know we have to be better at if we\u2019re going to be successful in the post-season. Tonight, we didn\u2019t get the job done.\u201d<\/p>\n The Sea Bears announced earlier on Thursday that post-season tickets for potential home games are now available to the general public.<\/p>\n winnipegfreepress.com\/joshuafreysam<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t Joshua Frey-Sam 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<\/a>.<\/p>\n Every piece of reporting Josh produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print \u2014 part of the Free Press\u2018s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press\u2019s history and mandate<\/a>, and learn how our newsroom operates<\/a>.<\/p>\n Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber<\/a>.<\/p>\n Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.<\/p>\n \t\t
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