RATTLERS BITTEN AGAIN, FALL TO 0-7

The Edmonton Stingers (6-0) kept their undefeated season alive with a hot-shooting second half to pull away from the Saskatchewan Rattlers (0-7) by a score of 87-70 on Monday night at the SaskTel Centre in Saskatoon.

The Rattlers led by two at halftime, but a 47-28 second-half advantage by the Stingers pushed the game out of reach. With the victory, Edmonton won its third consecutive game in a regular season mini-series against Saskatchewan.

While Saskatchewan is still winless on the season, the team’s offense is slowly but surely rounding into form. Still last place in points per game, the Rattlers topped 60 points for the first time in three contests. Coach Conor Dow has only been leading the squad for two games, but he’s already seen the tides starting to turn for his team’s offensive unit.

“Our spacing was a lot better, we got the looks we were looking for, we got the looks we practiced,” said Dow, “It just comes to working in the gym, so we knock them down come game time.”

Devonte Bandoo led the Rattlers in scoring for the second straight contest, dropping 17 points to go along with 10 rebounds and four steals. Travis Daniels also stepped up in the loss, finishing with a season-high 15 points.

While much of the starting lineup was effective for Saskatchewan, the bench couldn’t hold its weight. All told, the Rattlers’ reserves only combined for nine points, providing minimal offensive production for their squad.

The Rattlers also took an equal amount of two-pointers and three-pointers, 34 a piece. While the close-range shots fell at a decent 47% clip, the team shot only 8-34 (23%) from beyond the arc.

“Anytime we’re attacking offensively, we’re trying to get the ball in the paint,” said Dow, “But as I keep saying to the guys, I trust them to make their shots.”

Saskatchewan will now mercifully escape the grasp of the Stingers, as its next game comes on Friday at 9:00 p.m. ET/7:00 p.m. local time against the Guelph Nighthawks.

Edmonton is back in action on Thursday against the Hamilton Honey Badgers in a highly anticipated battle of the top two teams in the CEBL. That game will be played at 7:00 p.m. ET.

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 Winik/CEBL Communications)