Stingers Come Up Short in Nail-Biter Against Rattlers
Sean East II leads with 30
EDMONTON, AB - The Edmonton Stingers went the distance with the Saskatchewan Rattlers, but fell 90-88 at the Edmonton EXPO Centre on Sunday night.
Sean East II led the Stingers on offence with another 30-point performance and dished out five assists and drained three three-pointers in the loss.
The Stingers were looking to rebound after dropping Friday's match to Vancouver and finish the two-game homestand with a victory.
The game got off to a hot start with Edmonton taking an early 16-12 lead, followed by Saskatchewan fighting back to claim the lead at 21-18 at the halfway point. As the quarter progressed, Edmonton went up 27-23, thanks in part to Nick Hornsby's eight points and Sean East II's seven points, which helped bring the Stingers' offence to life. Still, the Rattlers battled back and edged out a slight 30-29 lead at the end of the quarter.
The offence began to slow in the second quarter after an electric back-and-forth first quarter. However, Edmonton did respond out of the break with a 7-0 run, sparked by an alley-oop dunk finished by Keon Amrbose Hylton. Although neither team found consistency in scoring the Stingers kept applying the pressure and recaptured a 41-36 lead. Although the lead would tighten as the half came to a close, Edmonton remained in control at halftime, up 45-44.
As the teams headed out for the second half, it was neck and neck after 20 minutes of play. The Edmonton lead was erased quickly as the two teams went back and forth before finding themselves tied at 52-52. Not long after the halfway point of the quarter, Saskatchewan began to push and pull away with a 6-0 run before Sean East II started a 6-0 run for the Stingers and tied the game once again at 58-58. And despite a hard-fought effort, the momentum would not shift Edmonton's way. The Rattlers squeaked out a 65-63 lead to set up an exciting final frame.
The Stingers would not go away easily, though. As the fourth quarter got underway, it was anyone's game. Edmonton would connect on a three-pointer from Taye Donald to tie the game at 70-70 three minutes into the quarter and appeared to begin to pull away with the lead. As the Stingers hit target time, the game seemed to be in their control at 80-77. Sean East II would tally six points in target time and all but seal the game for the Stingers, up 86-81. However, the Rattlers battled back and hit a three to win the game 90-88.
The loss was an improvement from Edmonton’s loss to Vancouver on Friday, however, head coach Jordan Baker explained what needed to get better for the Stingers to get back on track.
"Our execution on both ends has to be better," Baker said post-game. "We gotta do a better job with containing their main guys ... it could've gone either way."
Keon Amrbose-Hylton echoed his coach's statement and offered a glance at how the team can rebound going forward.
"I feel like offensively we're doing what we could ... I think we got to do a better job at rebounding in the last few minutes and make sure we box out," Ambrose-Hylton said post-game.
Edmonton will look to do just that and turn the tides as they rematch Saskatchewan in Saskatoon on August 6.
The Stingers return to the EXPO Centre against the Niagara River Lions on August 8 @ 7:00 p.m. MT and Winnipeg Sea Bears on August 10 @ 4:00 p.m. MT for their final two home games of the regular season.