Revamped Rattlers stop Stingers’ streak
Edmonton falls short of 10th straight win in possible CEBL final-four preview
All good things must come to an end and in the case of the Edmonton Stingers it was a nine-game winning streak in their final home game of the season.
The Stingers were unable to battle back from a 15-point halftime deficit, losing 85-81 to the Saskatchewan Rattlers at the Expo Centre on Thursday. The two teams face each other again Friday in Saskatoon.
“You have to give them a lot of credit,” said Stingers head coach Jermaine Small. “They got the lead on us pretty early and they held on to it. That’s a team that’s playing well, they’re playing free.
“They’re a long athletic team and we took some shots we’re not used to taking in the paint because of their length and athleticism, so I have to give them a lot of credit, they’re playing really good basketball, they’re playing together and their new additions have made a big difference.”
The Stingers were cold in the first half, shooting just 28.9 per cent from the field. They also had trouble handling Saskatchewan on the break as the Rattlers displayed their quickness throughout the half.
When they weren’t running the Stingers ragged, the Rattlers were pounding the ball inside to forwards Chad Posthumus and Ryan Ejim. The two big bodies dominated on the boards and had their way with the Stingers’ lighter forwards.
Posthumus and Ejim both had 10 points in the first half to lead the way for the Rattlers. Posthumus finished with 12 points, while Ejim didn’t have a point in the second half.
“We made some changes to our lineup, we lost some players to European leagues, so we had to kind of rebuild our roster a little bit, so it was a little bit of a scramble,” said Rattlers head coach Greg Jockims. “We are certainly in a good place now, we’re a good team and we were playing a good team. It was two very good teams going back and forth.”
The game was a possible final-four preview as both have qualified for Championship Weekend Aug. 24 and 25 in Saskatoon.
Forward Travis Daniels, who was back in the lineup after missing last week’s victory against the Fraser Valley Bandits, had nine first-half points for the Stingers and finished with 11. Point guard Xavier Moon had seven in the first half and heated up in the second, finishing with a game-high 24.
A 10-0 run in the latter half of the first quarter put the Rattlers up by eight. They went on an 8-0 run in the second quarter to take a 48-33 halftime lead.
“It was a great game, we knew they were going to come out hard,” Moon said. “They won three straight and we won nine straight, so we knew it was going to be a battle. They definitely gave us a test and (Friday) will be another test and we’ll definitely be ready for it.”
The Stingers began to hit shots in the second half led by Moon, who found his stroke from threepoint range. The Stingers chipped away at the deficit and were able to cut the lead to six points heading in the fourth quarter.
They still had their hands full with Posthumus and Ejim inside, but they were able to neutralize the two big men by going to a zone defence and forcing the Rattlers to take outside shots.
Edmonton also had more energy on the defensive end and was able to keep the Rattlers from running the floor on the fast break.
“We were missing open shots in the first half,” Moon said. “That happens sometimes. We know we’re going to make shots and sometimes we’re not going to make shots, so we just have to make sure when we’re not making shot we have to rely on our defence and they were getting a couple of easy buckets and it’s hard to climb back.”
Backstopped by good interior defence and better outside shooting, the Stingers chipped away at the deficit in the second half. A nine-point run toward the end of the third quarter put them within striking distance heading into the fourth.
They were able to get within one point with 1:48 to play, but the Rattlers came up with a couple of big baskets down the stretch and a few key rebounds.
“They had 32 points in the paint in the first half and so we focused a little more on ball pressure and made them drive more,” Small said. “They are tough to rebound against, but I just felt we needed to rebound better. We made them shoot like we wanted to, but we needed to rebound more. Give them credit, they execute their game plan well, they beat us up on the glass a little bit and it showed.”