The Saskatchewan Rattlers — playing host to the very team that they are chasing for a playoff spot — lost a big one Saturday night at SaskTel Centre.
Published Jul 16, 2023 • 3 minute read
Michael Nuga (1) had 18 points for the Saskatchewan Rattlers, who lost 89-70 to the visiting Edmonton Stingers on Saturday. Photo by Derek Elvin /Photo Electric Umbrella/Derek El
Stingers 89, Rattlers 70
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Two steps forward, one step back.
Article content
A big step backwards, as it turns out.
The Saskatchewan Rattlers — playing host to the very team that they are chasing for a playoff spot — lost a big one Saturday night at SaskTel Centre when they dropped an 89-70 decision to the visiting Edmonton Stingers.
After winning two straight games earlier in the week, Saskatchewan saw its Canadian Elite Basketball League record slip to 6-10 with Saturday’s loss. Edmonton improved its record to 8-9.
“We just didn’t have it,” said Ratters interim head coach Tanner Massey. “I thought that, coming into the game, the energy and the focus was there (Saturday morning) and pre-game and it didn’t translate and we didn’t respond to their punch in that first quarter when we were only down 7. They took it to us and we didn’t respond.”
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The Rattlers have four games remaining in the regular season with three of them on home court. They’ll try to re-group before they play host to the Brampton Honey Badgers on Monday night (7:30 p.m.) at SaskTel Centre.
“We can’t allow this to do more damage as it already does,” said Massey. “It only does as much damage as we allow it to do. We have to look at this loss, examine it, dig deep as ourselves individually, as players, as coaches. We can not allow this game to affect our next game. We can’t do that.”
Michael Nuga and Justin Wright-Foreman scored 18 points apiece for Saskatchewan, which trailed 18-11 after the opening quarter, 42-24 at half-time and 66-45 after three quarters.
It was Wright-Foreman’s lowest scoring total of the season.
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Nuga added six rebounds and two assists. Wright-Foreman had three rebounds, two assists and two steals.
Jermel Kennedy was next with seven points, four rebounds and three assists.
Trey Niemi added a pair of three’s for six points in the target score Elam-ending stretch to go along with two assists and two rebounds. Marquis Collins and Adong Mukuoi had five points each for the Rattlers, who shot only 31 per cent from the field compared to 45 per cent for the Stingers.
At one point, Saskatchewan trailed by as many as 33 points — 60-27 — in the third quarter but chipped away and cut that lead to 17 early in the fourth before Edmonton once again pulled away.
“It’s just trying to find ways to have that energy that we showed, whether it’s tactical, personnel or just fight — that inner fortitude,” said Massey. “We have to find a way to have that be sustainable throughout the game.
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“I would have liked it a lot more if weren’t down by 30 (earlier). That’s hard. We do have resiliency in that locker room. We’ve faced it all season. This is just another page in the book of our season when it comes to that. We have to be resilient with our mind-set heading into the next game and not allow this game to affect us negatively against Brampton.”
Isiah Osborne led Edmonton with 26 points, including five three-pointers. Nick Hornsby added 16 points, 12 rebounds, nine assists and three steals.
Bordy Clarke had 15 points and 11 rebounds for the Stingers, who will finish the regular season with three more games on the road.
On Saturday, the Rattlers seemed to have more success defensively against the Stingers when they switched to a zone.
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“We did because our guys had energy,” noted Massey, who was asked how tough it was going in the target-score session knowing that you needed to score 33 more points to win.
“You’re down so much that what’s the difference between being down 33 or 20? Honestly, you’re down by so much that you just try to chip away and try to see who’s bringing energy in those moments when the game may seem out of hand, to see which guys are fighting.”
On Friday, the Rattlers re-signed veteran shooting guard Devonte Bandoo, but he did not dress for Saturday’s game. Bandoo is coming off a knee injury suffered this past season in Europe and there is no word as to when he may be ready to get into the line-up.
dzary@postmedia.com
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