Harris' target score time heroics lift Sea Bears past River Lions

In what might have been a preview of the 2025 Championship Final, it was the Winnipeg Sea Bears that secured a leg up over the Niagara River Lions after an 86-81 win on Wednesday night.

Both squads had already secured their spots in the Conference Finals before post-season action begins next week, Winnipeg (10-12) doing so by virtue of being the host city this season, while Niagara (14-8) paved its way by clinching the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference. Meaning each team is just one win away from a rematch in the title game and only two victories away from securing a CEBL championship, giving each team plenty of opportunity to gain insight from the regular-season matchup.

“(Possibly facing Niagara in the Final) was clearly on top of our minds,” Jalen Harris said after scoring a game-high 24 points and all of Winnipeg’s baskets in Target Score Time. “Coach had repeated that throughout the week, this is a team we could potentially see, so I think we were locked in a prepared to learn whatever we could from this game.”

Behind the star guard was Will Richardson with 20 points, seven rebounds and four assists, and Simi Shittu with 14 points and 13 rebounds. Meanwhile, Nathan Bilamu chipped in 10 points, nine rebounds and five assists, Terry Roberts added 10 points off the bench, and Trevon Scott dished out 10 assists to go with eight points.

On the other side, Ron Curry led the defending champs by scoring 22 points, to go with six rebounds and four assists. Khalil Ahmad added 18 points and seven rebounds, while Ahmed Hill finished with 12 points off the bench. Despite the loss, Hill did reach a personal milestone on Wednesday as his two helpers pushed him past 200 assists all-time (regular season only), making him just the 14th player in CEBL history to reach that mark.

The defeat at the Canada Life Centre also dropped the defending champs to 5-5 on the road this season, a stark contrast to their 9-3 showing at home in Niagara.

“We’re not playing with a sense of urgency that we need,” River Lions head coach Victor Raso said after his team’s third straight loss. “This was a team that won seven games in a row to clinch the East, and now we’re just not … the little things are showing up.

“You can’t win a tight road game shooting 11-for-20 from the free throw line and as poorly as we did from three, but really, it’s the urgency. It has to matter a lot, and right now it doesn't.”

Winnipeg may have struggled to contain Niagara early as it trailed 27-21 after the first — following a 9-of-11 start from inside the arc by the River Lions — but it was clear right out of the gates that Harris was in for a big game as he scored the Sea Bears’ first nine points on the night.

And although the import put up just four points in the second, Winnipeg was still able to take advantage of that early momentum as it cut the deficit going into the break, trailing 45-42.

The Sea Bears did so largely thanks to an inspired effort on the glass. Winnipeg grabbed 13 offensive rebounds (plus-nine) through the game’s first 20 minutes, which led to a 12-2 edge on second-chance points and eight more field goal attempts than Niagara at halftime. Not a total surprise considering the Sea Bears entered Wednesday ranked second in the CEBL for offensive rebounds per game (12.2).

“We’re moving in the right direction,” Taylor said post-game. “We’ve got a great opportunity with our roster now, and I’m really proud of the attention to detail the players had today.”

And coming out of halftime, coach Raso said his team needed to “gang rebound,” to limit Winnipeg’s success on that front, but that appeared easier said than done. By the end of the third, the Sea Bears had ballooned what was a plus-six rebounding edge through the first half into a plus-14 advantage.

“We can’t just keep being like ‘we’re going to be okay,’” Raso said when asked about his team’s struggles of late toward the end of the season. “We’ll be back, but there has to be urgency. There’s no way around it … this team has won on the margins all year, and we need that.”

All the while, the Sea Bears retook the lead less than two minutes into the second half, fittingly after Shittu corralled yet another offensive board and dropped it back in through contact. The forward then completed the and-one at the free throw line, giving the Sea Bears their first lead since the 7:11 mark of the first. Winnipeg then built that into a 65-61 edge by the end of the third quarter.

The margin remained the same until the start of Target Score Time when Harris took over. The former second-round NBA draft pick scored all nine of Winnipeg’s points once the clock stopped and shot a perfect 4-for-4 from the field to seal the win. His final basket — a layup through traffic after knifing through Niagara’s defence — was especially timely as the River Lions had gone on a 5-0 run and cut the deficit to just three points before Harris’s ninth Target Score Winner all-time.

“We knew we had to execute,” Harris said of his heroics after the win. “It got away from us a little bit, but we buckled down and did what we planned to do.”

Up next

Both squads return to action on Friday, starting with the Sea Bears hosting the Brampton Honey Badgers in another cross-conference clash. Meanwhile, the River Lions continue their season-ending four-game road trip with a matchup against the Edmonton Stingers.

Next CEBL action

Wednesday’s triple-header slate wraps up with the second leg of a home-and-home set between the Stingers and host Saskatchewan Rattlers at 9:30 p.m. ET / 7:30 p.m. local.

The clash will mark their second matchup in three days and the final regular season meeting between the West rivals. Saskatchewan leads the season series 2-0.