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The Winnipeg Sea Bears entered the post-season on a hope and a prayer, but an impressive playoff run now leaves the franchise just two wins away from earning its first Canadian Elite Basketball League championship. The Sea Bears were dealt a tough hand on the eve of the playoffs when three starters were suddenly ruled out.
Left to rebuild the club’s chemistry, the remaining roster rallied to win back-to-back playoff games to punch their ticket to the finals.
“We were missing a lot of guys, and even a lot of the announcers, I felt people were writing us off,” said forward Simon Hildebrandt. “So we kind of went in there like, ‘Hey, let’s give them our best shot.’ Nobody really believed in us but us.”
Winnipeg now faces the Brampton Honey Badgers in what will be the first multi-game championship series in league history. The best-of-three opens Wednesday in Brampton at 7 p.m. ET, before shifting to Winnipeg for Game 2 on Saturday (3:30 p.m.) and, if necessary, Game 3 on Sunday (3:30 p.m.).
Sea Bears guard Teddy Allen, who is the front-runner to win the league’s player of the year award, was hospitalized after a violent altercationat a downtown nightclub. Meanwhile, defensive specialist Jeremiah Tilmon Jr. and Winnipeg native Emmanuel Akot also left after signing contracts with clubs in Turkey and Mexico, respectively.
Without Allen, who led the CEBL with an average of nearly 28 points per game, the Sea Bears have had to retool their offensive attack. Much of the workload landed on Xavier Moon, a former three-time CEBL player of the year and two-time league champion who signed with Winnipeg this season.
“We’re very resilient. When we’re connected, we’re a very hard team to beat,” Moon said. “A lot of guys want to prove what they can do. Everybody’s doing that at their own pace. It’s not going to be everybody’s day, so you’ve got to figure out what works best for what guys and in what games. I feel like we’re doing the best we can with what we have.”
That team-first approach has paid off in recent weeks.
Winnipeg opened the post-season with a 99-88 home victory over the Saskatoon Mamba, who had won six of their previous seven games heading into the Western Conference semifinal.
The No. 2-seeded Sea Bears followed that up by stunning the top-ranked Vancouver Bandits, 107-96, in the West final. Vancouver had clinched first place in the conference by beating Winnipeg on the final weekend of the regular season and entered the game as a heavy favourite.
The Winnipeg Sea Bears, led by stars Xavier Moon and Simon Hildebrandt defeated the number one seeded Vancouver Bandits to secure a spot in the CEBL Finals against the Brampton Honey Badgers.
Brampton No. 2 in East
“They did a really good job of adjusting to different things that we asked them to do during the course of the game, and they played with massive confidence in one another,” first-year head coach Mike Raimbault said. “The belief was there, and we went out as a group, and right from the start, you knew who the aggressor was.”
Brampton finished second in the Eastern Conference with an 11-13 record.
The Honey Badgers defeated the Ottawa BlackJacks in the East semifinal, before edging the Niagara River Lions in the conference final. Niagara had done a lot of the heavy lifting earlier in the post-season by knocking off reigning back-to-back CEBL champion Scarborough Shooting Stars, who finished with a league-best 20-4 record.
The Honey Badgers were also 2-0 against the Sea Bears this season, claiming a pair of narrow wins. Brampton beat Winnipeg 96-92 back on May 25 and, most recently, edged the Sea Bears, 88-86, on July 25.
“They’re really well coached and organized,” Raimbault said. “They have a bulk of guys that can step up and shoot; their front is athletic and agile – they have a really talented group.”
Despite the series sweep, Raimbault is confident his players will be ready come tip-off.
“We understand they’re going to be a tall task,” Raimbault added. “We’ve continued to say that we have to take things one possession at a time, and we understand it’s hard to win on the road. We’re looking forward to that challenge.”
The finals will also feature a notable story off the court, with the two clubs owned by siblings. David Asper runs the Sea Bears, while brother Leonard Asper leads the Honey Badgers.
David Asper said there haven’t been any friendly wagers on the series, but he’s expecting a tight affair between two talented clubs.
“What it really comes down to is someone is going to be really happy, and someone is going to be really sad,” Asper said.
“But the biggest question I have is about our sister: who is Gail cheering for?”
The Brampton Honey Badgers led by Sean East Li and Trentyn Flowers defeated the Niagara River Lions 91-81 to win the eastern conference, and take their spot in the CEBL Final.
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