Stingers survive late Rattlers rally to snap three-game skid

The Saskatchewan Rattlers were dealt another blow to their fading playoff hopes on Thursday.

A 91-87 loss to the Edmonton Stingers at home at the SaskTel Centre in Saskatoon means the Rattlers now sit at 6-11 and remain 1.5 games back of the Winnipeg Sea Bears (7-10) for the final post-season spot in the Western Conference. 

It appeared the urgency of the situation suddenly hit Saskatchewan in Target Score Time — yet ultimately, it proved too little, too late. 

The Rattlers found themselves down 81-72 when the clock turned off. That’s when they found their groove, rallying to tie the game at 85 apiece thanks in part to three three-pointers from starting guard Cody John. 

The rally caused Edmonton head coach Jordan Baker to call timeout, after which the teams went scoreless for the ensuing nine possessions until the Stingers Brody Clarke stole the ball and sparked a two-on-one. 

As Jacob Evans III completed the play with a layup, the Rattlers’ Teddy Allen committed a foul against Trey McGowens, immediately handing the Stingers the ball back. Edmonton would go on to score, then score again  on its next possession to secure the victory. 

“Our guys all play hard, that’s not the issue. But sometimes we don’t lock in on what were supposed to. Again, it’s a hard game to be focused for 40 minutes. Not just physically, but mentally. I’m asking a lot, but they’re all capable. It’s a capable group, it’s capable individuals and somehow we got an opportunity to stay in this, somehow,” Rattlers head coach Larry Abney said. 

“But if we continue to have those lapses, we’ll eliminate ourselves.” 

With the win, the Stingers snapped a three-game losing streak to improve to 12-7 with just one game remaining in their season. 

Edmonton knows it’s headed to the playoffs — the only question now is seeding. 

“We took care of business in a hostile environment. Give credit to them, they played hard, they made some shots when it mattered, but we just stayed resilient and stayed positive and were able to pull it out at the end,” Baker said. 

Besides converting the winning basket, Clarke led Edmonton with 22 points on 11-for-17 shooting, and he nearly made it a double-double with nine rebounds. The Toronto native surpassed 900 career points, including playoffs, with the effort. 

But it was a typical team game for the Stingers, who also had Nick Hornsby contribute 21 points, eight assists and six rebounds while McGowens added 18 points of his own. 

Clarke credited his teammates for finding him, especially during a stretch of the third quarter. 

“I was just rolling to the basket. I would turn, I would cut to the ball and then there would be nobody between me and the rim and I would just shoot open layups,” he said. “I don’t know if you call that getting hot, but I’ll take it.” 

Allen paced the Rattlers with 24 points and eight assists, while John poured in 20 points. 

Saskatchewan led a tightly contested game through much of the first half, but it surrendered the lead late in the second quarter as Edmonton went into halftime with a 43-42 advantage. 

The lead then swelled as large as 15 points in the third quarter as the Rattlers’ defence seemed to become leaky, allowing the Stingers to pull away with a 26-12 run to start the half. 

“Those types of lapses put us in a situation where we’re playing desperate basketball. We don’t have the bandwidth to have those types of lapses and the result is the result because of it,” Abney said. 

Saskatchewan, like it would do later in Target Score Time, showed some guile in cutting its deficit back to seven entering the final frame. 

But it would ultimately come up short. Its next game, against Winnipeg on Saturday, now looms even larger. 

“Obviously no one’s happy to lose but we’re still alive,” John said. “We go to Winnipeg, that’s a must-win for us. We’re still alive, so we still got some more basketball to play, so we still gotta stay together.” 

Meanwhile, Edmonton finds itself with an 11-day break after playing eight games already this month. 

Clarke said that he and other teammates planned to take a few days off and see family before getting back to work. 

“And I think everybody would have been pretty depressed if we were all going home with a loss,” he said. “So it was good to get the win and end of our stretch of eight games in 18 days on a high note.” 

Baker added that it feels as though his team hasn’t practised in a month. 

“We’re gonna give guys an opportunity to recharge mentally and physically and we’re gonna be able to practise and work on some things and tinker with some things,” Baker said. 

Up next 

Saskatchewan heads to Winnipeg to face the Sea Bears on Saturday, while Edmonton has 11 days off before returning for its season finale at home against Winnipeg on July 29.