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ANDY MAHON PHOTO<\/p>\n
Winnipeg Sea Bears forward Jeremiah Tilmon Jr. said the team needs to get physical underneath the basket rather than expect their athleticism to be enough.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought our meeting this morning was really good, the conversation in the locker room, saying the right things, understanding the details,\u201d said head coach Mike Raimbault.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe talked about treating our last four games as a trial run for the playoffs, and if that was the case, we\u2019d be cleaning our lockers out today. So I mean, I think the response from the group collectively was really good, understanding that we need to be a little bit better, and there\u2019s lots of things that we can improve. And fortunately, we don\u2019t have long to wait to get back into it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The club will turn its attention to an important out-of-conference matchup against the Brampton Honey Badgers (9-11) at Canada Life Centre on Saturday (2:30 p.m.) where Winnipeg will look to hold serves in the race with the Vancouver Bandit for home-court advantage throughout the Canadian Elite Basketball League\u2019s Western Conference playoffs.<\/p>\n
Here are three pointers to get you prepared fore Saturday\u2019s contest in the latest edition of Beyond the Arc.<\/p>\n
Slumping Honey Badgers<\/p>\n
The Honey Badgers won\u2019t enter the Sea Bears\u2019 den riding a wave of confidence. Quite the opposite, actually.<\/p>\n
Brampton has lost 10 of its last 12 since starting the season 7-1. The Honey Badgers remain firmly in the middle of a heated playoff race in the Eastern Conference and control their playoff destiny.<\/p>\n
Ther\u2019re tied with the Ottawa BlackJacks and Niagara River Lions for second in the East, while the Montreal Alliance trail closely at 8-12.<\/p>\n
Despite a sputtering squad entering their building, Winnipeg must be sure not to overlook this club, which has shown how dangerous it can be. The Sea Bears fell 96-92 in Brampton, Ont., in May.<\/p>\n
\u201cI definitely think they\u2019re hungry. I definitely feel like they got a point to prove right now, but I feel like we also do too,\u201d said Jeremiah Tilmon Jr. \u201cWe just lost at home, and we lost our No. 1 spot (in the Western Conference). I mean, we got a chip on our shoulder too, man. We didn\u2019t get the outcome that we wanted last game, and we felt like that was gonna be a statement game for us as far as the playoffs and all that stuff. We\u2019re gonna expect their best tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dangerous backcourt<\/p>\n
Bandits guard Jarkel Joiner put forth a tremendous 24-point performance on Thursday, and now the Sea Bears will face another dangerous back court that includes Sean East II, Cameron Tyson and the recently signed Tevian Jones.<\/p>\n
The Sea Bears are familiar with all three. East II was an MVP finalist last summer and is enjoying another strong \u2014 albeit less efficient \u2014 campaign, averaging 22.9 points, 7.3 assists, 4.7 rebounds and 2.3 steals per game.<\/p>\n
Tyson, a CEBL rookie, introduced himself to the Sea Bears in the previous meeting, pouring in 23 points, including seven three-pointers.<\/p>\n
Jones started 14 games for the Sea Bears, averaging 16.6 points, last season before requesting his release and joining Saskatoon\u2019s organization.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re ultra aggressive, so you have to kind of be wary of them,\u201d said Sea Bears guard Jelani Watson-Gayle. \u201cThey also will shoot a lot of shots\u2026 I won\u2019t say any shot, but when they have a longer leash from their coach and they can they can shoot a lot more shots and stuff like that, they can be dangerous because once they see one go in, it can be a long day.\u201d<\/p>\n
East II, Tyson and Jones play vastly different styles, but can all be difficult to defend. They will be a key for Winnipeg on the defensive end in this one.<\/p>\n
Rebounding remains critical<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a consistent theme across nearly every loss for Sea Bears this season: they were out-hustled on the glass.<\/p>\n
Rebounding has been a struggle for Winnipeg this season. It\u2019s one of the few cracks in their armour that have been exploited.<\/p>\n
The Sea Bears rank in the middle of the pack in rebounds per game (36.7) but are coming off a matchup against Vancouver in which they were dominated, being out-rebounded 50-28 and outscored 62-34 inside the paint.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe talk about it all the time. We don\u2019t trust each other to help each other,\u201d said Tilmon Jr.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of it be us watching instead of hitting the bodies\u2026 expecting our athleticism to work. It don\u2019t always work like that. I mean, basketball, everybody pros out here,\u201d he added. \u201cI do it myself. When I watch film\u2026 I\u2019m just standing there watching them rebound instead of just going down there and getting in the fight too. I have my mistakes as well, but we do a lot of watching on rebounding and not helping each other. Like, it\u2019s bad.\u201d<\/p>\n
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The Honey Badgers rank third with 37.8 rebounds per contest and have been particularly tenacious on the offensive glass, hauling down a second-best 12 offensive rebounds per game, which has led to many second-chance opportunities.<\/p>\n
The Sea Bears have harped on the rebounding department all season, but now they need their talk to come to fruition.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the message for us really more is about consistency, continuing to stay in motion. We know that as the games get bigger and the challenge gets greater, you\u2019re going to get rewarded less for some of those efforts, and for us, we got to continue to make multiple efforts, and might not be as fruitful as some previous games where you get after it and all of a sudden you\u2019re scoring at the other end,\u201d said Raimbault.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have to be able to sustain that concentration and that effort, regardless of what we\u2019re getting in return. If you want to win a post-season game, you\u2019ve got to be able to weather the storm a little bit better with some scoring droughts, and our activity can\u2019t drop.\u201d<\/p>\n
winnipegfreepress.com\/joshuafreysam<\/p>\n
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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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