EDMONTON 87 SASKATCHEWAN 56, RATTLERS FALL TO 0-6

The Edmonton Stingers (5-0) used an outstanding second quarter to pull away and defeat the Saskatchewan Rattlers (0-6) 87-56 on Saturday afternoon at the SaskTel Centre in Saskatoon. With the win, Edmonton pushed its lengthy win streak to an impressive 12 games dating back to last year’s Summer Series championship run.

A blowout victory wasn’t too difficult to predict, as the Stingers beat the Rattlers 101-60 – the second-largest margin of victory in CEBL history, just two nights ago. While it didn’t look like it early-on, Edmonton proved once again that it was the superior team.

The loss for the Rattlers marked the team’s first game with interim head coach Conor Dow leading the charge. Dow, a former G League assistant, takes over after previous head man Chad Jacobson stepped down from his position on Friday.

“Coach Chad (Jacobson) was very generous with giving me a big voice on this team,” said Dow about his new position, “The guys are respecting what we’re saying, they’re trying to do what we ask of them. We just have to execute for a full 40 minutes and not just in spurts.”

Despite the staff change, the results stayed mostly similar for Saskatchewan. The CEBL’s last-place scoring offence only mustered 56 points, the lowest total of any team in CEBL history.

The Rattlers were paced by D’Andre Bernard and Devonte Bandoo, dropping 12 points apiece. It was an overall struggle to put the ball in the hoop, with Saskatchewan shooting just 32% from the floor and 26% from beyond the arc.

“One positive is we got a heck of a lot more open looks than we had previously,” said Dow, “It’s just about knocking down those shots and continuing to make the extra pass when the shots aren’t falling.”

While the Rattlers would love to get away from the dominant Stingers bunch, that reality will not be the case. The two squads are set to face off for a third straight time on Monday at 9:30 p.m. ET/7:30 p.m local time, once again at the SaskTel Centre in Saskatoon.

For Saskatchewan, Monday’s game allows the team a third chance to show it can compete with the Stingers, looking to improve on the 36-point average margin of defeat through the first two games of the regular season series.

On Edmonton’s side, it will look to finish off the Rattlers and remain undefeated as it continues to march through a long road trip.

All CEBL games will be available for live streaming on the CEBL’s new OTT streaming service CEBL+, cbcsports.ca, the free CBC Gem streaming service, the CBC Sports App for iOS and android devices, and on Twitch.

(Matthew Winick, CEBL Communications)