The Winnipeg Sea Bears had their three-game winning streak snapped amid controversy in St. Catharines, Ont., Thursday night.
Winnipeg, playing without reigning league MVP Teddy Allen following his ejection on a technical foul in the second quarter, went down 101-94 to the Niagara River Lions in Canadian Elite Basketball League action before 2,479 fans at the Meridian Centre.
“We were coming out of a timeout and one of the officials said Teddy bumped him,” explained Sea Bears GM and head coach Mike Taylor by phone. “Teddy was simply walking to get on the court. So we felt the official overreacted. It was the same official who was really giving us a rough time (earlier) in the game.”
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Winnipeg’s Teddy Allen was ejected in the second quarter and only managed eight points.
Taylor said the Winnipeg bench had been assessed a technical earlier.
The lead changed 10 times in the first quarter but the Lions took control late in the first half, taking a 61-52 lead to intermission.
Simon Hildebrandt’s three-pointer brought the visitors to within one point at 81-80 with 6:59 remaining in the fourth quarter but that was as close as the Sea Bears would get. The hosts led 92-83 when the clock was shut off for the start of Target Score Time with 3:50 left.
“I thought our guys responded really well,” said Taylor. “Being shorthanded, playing from a deficit and cutting the lead to 81-80, we were down by one and unfortunately, we had expended too much energy to get to that point. We came up with several empty possessions and couldn’t get over the hump.”
Allen, who entered the game with a 34.5 per game scoring average, managed only eight points and two rebounds in 13:50 of playing time.
The game ended on a sour note for the Sea Bears, who put together a nice run of points in Target Score Time only to have Niagara’s Jahvon Blair scored the winning basket on a goaltending call — Blair’s layup was blocked by Winnipeg’s David Muenkat.
“We felt it was a clean block so I asked them to look at it,” said Taylor. “They did, and from that point forward, they deemed it a goaltend.”
Muenkat finished with 16 points and eight rebounds.
Blair led the Lions with 21 points while Aaryn Rai added 20 points and five rebounds.
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Jarred Ogungbemi-Jackson had a productive night with 24 points and six assists.
Sea Bears guard Jarred Ogungbemi-Jackson continued his impressive play during his debut CEBL season, scoring 24 points, six assists and three rebounds while teammate Mason Bourcier had 13 points, three assists and three rebounds.
Winnipeg started the game shorthanded, played without the services of import power forward Darius Days for the second consecutive game. Days, who has been attending NBA workouts with unspecified teams this week, is expected to return to Winnipeg next week.
The Sea Bears continue their four-game road trip in Calgary Sunday against the Surge before heading to Vancouver to play the Bandits on Thursday, June 13.
Winnipeg returns to the friendly confines of Canada Life Centre for a Sunday, June 16 match-up with the Edmonton Stingers.
