Stingers Comeback Falls Just Short To Sea Bears

Despite a furious comeback by the Edmonton Stingers at the end, the Winnipeg Sea Bears walked away with a season-opening win at the Canada Life Centre on Friday night.

A pair of Tevian Jones free throws secured a 92-89 victory for Winnipeg, in a game the Sea Bears led by 16 points heading into Target Score Time.

Winnipeg head coach and general manager Mike Taylor promised a team-first brand of basketball entering the year, and count that promise kept, at least through one game.

The Sea Bears racked up 19 assists on 31 made field goals while getting contributions up and down the roster. Starting with Jones, who finished with a team-high 25 points, going 8-for-8 from the charity stripe while adding six rebounds and two steals. The import forward picked up right where he left off as a member of the Scarborough Shooting Stars last season, when his 16.9 points per game ranked 15th in the CEBL.

On the other side, Sean East II carried the load for the Stingers as they ultimately fell to 0-2 despite their late rally. The import guard finished with a game-high 26 points on 10-of-18 shooting, while backcourt mate Devonté Bandoo scored 21 on 8-of-14 from the field.

Nick Hornsby and former Sea Bear Scottie Lindsey rounded out the double-digit scorers for Edmonton on Friday, putting up 13 and 14 points, respectively. Hornsby added 10 boards as well for his first double-double of the season.

Backdropping the Sea Bears’ opener was the fact it was their first game since the sudden loss of captain Chad Posthumus in the off-season. The franchise honoured the Winnipeg native by retiring his No. 33 in a pre-game ceremony and hanging his jersey in the rafters while a capacity crowd of 10,649 fans in attendance cheered. The Sea Bears will also wear “33 forever” patches throughout the season as one of the many ways they plan to celebrate Posthumus’ legacy.

And it appeared, at least early, that the emotions from pre-game had sparked Winnipeg into a strong start.

The Sea Bears opened the game on a 13-4 run that was punctuated by an Akot and-one on his former teammate Lindsey, and some stellar team defence. Winnipeg held Edmonton to under 30 per cent shooting from the field in the first as it built up a 21-13 lead.

Come the second quarter, that advantage only grew as Jones caught fire following a slow start. After missing his first five shots, the do-it-all wing made four of his next seven looks en route to a 14-point scoring frame.

Jones’ effort built the Sea Bears' lead up to 47-36 at the break, a margin they extended up to 18 after the third quarter.

Most of the final frame seemed like a similar story as a Terry Roberts layup put Winnipeg ahead by 20 points at the 6:24 mark, their largest lead of the ball game, as the Sea Bears eventually went into Target Time with an 83-67 lead.

The Stingers showed some resilience, however, going on an 8-0 run that was punctuated by Hornsby. He scored six of those points on his own, capping off the effort with an and-one that cut Edmonton’s deficit to eight points.

From there, the Stingers were able to capitalize on a trio of costly Sea Bears turnovers and cut the deficit to just one on a Taye Donald layup in semi-transition. Donald’s heroics were quickly wiped away when he was called for a foul moments later and Jones closed the ball game at the free throw line.

“We played well in the last eight minutes, but we’re certainly going to watch a lot of film on the first 32,” Stingers head coach Jordan Baker said. “Lots of things we need to clean up but … I love the resilience from the guys.”