The Scarborough Shooting Stars split their first road trip of the season with a 93-82 loss to the Ottawa BlackJacks.
The loss comes with MVP candidate Jalen Harris being out of the lineup after being invited to the Utah Jazz minicamp alongside Brampton Honey Badgers guard Christian Vital. Harris will return to the Shooting Stars for Scarborough’s home opener this Friday.
It appeared early on that the Shooting Stars would be able to make do without one of their most important players as they took an early lead in the game, but a massive response from the BlackJacks saw Ottawa shooting 75 per cent from three-point range on 16 shots in the first half to take a 56-38 lead into halftime.
Scarborough leaned heavily on Cat Barber for offense, and Barber delivered with a 30-point performance, but for the second game in a row, the Shooting Stars had trouble finding consistent offense elsewhere.
Kameron Chatman had 26 points in another impressive showing off the bench, and David Muenkat had nine points, but no other player for Scarborough scored more than six points.
The BlackJacks were able to find a plethora of scoring options in their win, with 22 points from Michael Flowers leading the way. Maxime Boursqiuot scored 18 points, shooting four-of-six from three, and Jackson Rowe scored 15 while shooting 75 percent from three.
Scarborough made a game of it in the second half, even with all the offensive struggles, by forcing turnovers and scoring in transition, but Ottawa was able to find a response whenever it crept up to a single-digit deficit.
Four straight scoreless trips for Ottawa at the end of Elam time opened the door for a potential Scarborough comeback, but an offensive rebound from Kadre Gray allowed for another Elam time winner for the former U SPORTS Player of the Year with a goaltending call sealing the game for the BlackJacks.
The Shooting Stars finally return home to the Toronto Pan Am Centre for the first time this season on Friday night (June 2nd) when they take on the Winnipeg Sea Bears for a first-time match-up with the expansion team. The Sea Bears are coming off the first win in franchise history after taking down the Vancouver Bandits 90-85 in a game that set the CEBL attendance record with more 7,300 people in the Canada Life Centre for the game.
Scarborough Shooting Stars vs. Ottawa BlackJacks boxscore click HERE.
