Sea Bears sink Shooting Stars in thrilling home-opener

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This article was published 24/05/2024 (495 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Canadian Elite Basketball League dialed up the excitement at Canada Life Centre Friday night.

With a roaring crowd of 9,116 urging them on the Winnipeg Sea Bears rallied from a five-point deficit at the start of target time, capped by Alex Campbell’s corner three-pointer, to beat the Scarborough Shooting Stars 109-106.

“It was the first game, new team and 1,000 points and all that — God is good,” said Campbell, a former Vancouver Bandit who finished with nine points and became the first Canadian to reach the 1,000-point milestone in his CEBL career.

The Stars had a golden opportunity to win the game, needing Jackson Rowe to hit only one of two free throws to reach the target score of 107 points.

But Rowe missed both, thanks in no small measure to the vociferous Winnipeg crowd, which filled the lower bowl of Canada Life Centre.

“I’ve been in a lot of arenas in my career and it’s one of the loudest I’ve ever heard,” said Sea Bears guard Jarred Ogungbemi-Jackson. “It was to the point where you thought your head was going to fall off. So, a shout out to the fans for that.”

Campbell has experienced target time before — Scarborough had a 98-93 lead when the clock was turned off — but this was special.

“Never as electric as it was tonight,” he said. “Sea Bears nation was rocking for sure. I’m just excited to be there.”

Ogungbemi-Jackson, a 32-year-old Winnipegger playing at home as a professional for the first time, had 19 points, 10 rebounds, six assists and zero turnovers. Darius Days chipped in with 14 points for the winners.

“I’m so used to playing in Europe — overseas — and I saw 3:41 on the clock and I was thinking we’ve probably got three or four more possessions,” said Ogungbemi-Jackson. “I was already thinking about plays that we were going to run. Then I remembered, ‘Oh no, it’s target score (time).’ Then I saw the clock go to zero-zero and I was like, ‘Hey, now it’s all about defence and we’ve gotta get a lot of stops and make some big plays.”

The hosts, who improved to 1-1, got plenty of big plays from star guard Teddy Allen, who had 41 points, nine rebounds, six assists and three steals.

The Sea Bears struggled to find their shooting touch in the first half, trailing by as many as 11 points while missing their first 14 three-point attempts.

Consecutive threes from Teddy Allen and Simon Hildebrandt in the final two minutes followed by a pair of free throws from Allen brought the hosts even with the Shooting Stars, 48-48, at the intermission.

Winnipeg went two-for-16 from behind the arc while the Stars went a respectable eight-for-24 in the opening half.

Winnipeg’s top-heavy offensive production was in stark contrast to a balanced attack from the Shooting Stars, who had five players in double figures including Rowe, with 17 points, Tevian Jones (18), Kadre Gray (17), Hason Ward (12) and Shamar Givance (10).

The Sea Bears, who came into the 2024 season with the five largest single-game crowds in CEBL history, had their crown usurped Tuesday when 12,327 fans attended the Calgary Surge’s home opener against the Edmonton Stingers.

The gathering at the Surge’s lone scheduled game at the Scotiabank Saddledome broke the league’s single-game attendance record of 10,580, which was established during Winnipeg’s play-in game against Edmonton on Aug. 4, 2023.

Sea Bears owner and chairman David Asper doesn’t have any immediate plans to regain the attendance title.

“It’s amazing what they did in Calgary but we’re trying to stay focused on what we do and not get distracted,” said Asper. “I guess it’s a rivalry in some ways but, you know, a rising tide lifts all boats and so we really celebrate what they’ve been able to do there.”

After far exceeding attendance expectations in 2023, Asper wants to concentrate on selling the tickets in the Canada Life Centre’s lower bowl before getting too ambitious.

Next up for Winnipeg is another home date for a Saturday, June 1 visit from the Ottawa BlackJacks.

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca