Tyrell Green made a homecoming for the ages as his game-winning three-pointer capped a 91-90 comeback win for the Ottawa BlackJacks against the Scarborough Shooting Stars on Monday.
The 26-year-old Toronto native struggled through most of the game, scoring just four points before the Elam Ending portion of the game.
With Scarborough (5-5) leading 90-78 and just needing a point to win, Green came in and scored 11 of the BlackJacks (3-7) last 13 points, including two consecutive step-back threes to stun the Scarborough crowd and seal a 23-8 run in the Elam ending.
“I was hot,” Green said after the game. “I missed the whole game but after doing my first two I settled in a bit. When I saw that we reduced the lead [I thought] just let me keep shooting
“We’ve had trouble starting the new year but one thing I want to say about our group is that we’re always struggling. We always stay together, we are always in the game, we all trust each other. Personally, it’s been a roller coaster season for me to start, so having this game at home, my dad was from here…it’s a surreal, surreal moment for me.”
Tyrell Green (@TGreen3_) starts from DEEEPP for victory. ☄️@ott_blackjacks Get the win & complete the biggest Elam ending comeback in CEBL history “https://twitter.com/hashtag/SSSvsOBJ?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#SSSvsOBJ pic.twitter. com/8QnrEvkbKd
In the opening frame neither side was able to pull it together as the score stayed 0-0 until the 7:38 mark when Scarborough’s Jalen Harris hit a three.
From there, the floodgates opened as the Shooting Stars took a 15-0 lead before Ottawa’s Cody John scored his side’s first points.
With a 22:6 lead in the second half, Scarborough had taken full control without any danger in sight.
highlights from day 1 @sss_cebl 🆚 @ott_blackjacks
📺 Mobile CEBL App, https://t.co/NVk3EPx257, @cbcsports, @cbcgem#LetsBall #SSSvsOBJ pic.twitter.com/iISgcl2bdP
Although the BlackJacks were able to get it together, reducing the deficit to double digits became a problem as the Shooting Stars were able to go in at the half 40-28.
In the third, this trend largely continued. Trailing 57-40 at the 4-38 mark, Ottawa went back on an 8-0 run to cut the lead to nine, the lowest since trailing 9-0 in the first game.
That effort quickly went down the drain when Scarborough responded, besting the BlackJacks 13-7 the rest of the way to rise 70-55 heading into the final frame.
The trend continued for much of game four when Scarborough advanced 82-68 to the Elam tournament.
In what felt like a quarter length of an Elam final, the Shooting Stars seemed on course to victory as they needed a point more to win by 12, as they scored every time Ottawa tried to fight back.
Then the team just kept settling for jumpers, missing five consecutive possessions – something Ottawa was probably hoping for up until then.
For every miss, the BlackJacks kept making them pay – especially Green, who landed the final shot over Caliph Young to seal it.
Highlights from the 4th 👀‼️@sss_cebl 🆚 @ott_blackjacks #LetsBall #SSSvsOBJ pic.twitter.com/JxrcDfL5KV
Ottawa was led by Walt Lemon Jr. and Deng Adel’s 20-point scoring effort to get off the bench along with Green’s 15.
Harris’ 21 points led for Scarborough, Isiaha Mike added 15 and Kameron Chatman scored 14.
The Shooting Stars will look to avoid a return to a losing record when they take on the league-leading Fraser Valley Bandits at 10:30 p.m. ET on Friday. Ottawa, on the other hand, is hoping to build on Saturday’s win over second-seeded Hamilton Honey Badgers at 4 p.m. ET.
Both games can be streamed live on CBCSports.ca, CBC Sports App and CBC Gem.