The Scarborough Shooting Stars have won their third game in a row and handed the Saskatchewan Rattlers their first home loss of the season in a 99-83 win.
Scarborough’s stars came to play early with Jalen Harris scoring six points and Kameron Chatman scoring seven points in the first quarter as the Shooting Stars took a 21-14 lead after the opening frame, while holding the Rattlers to 27 per cent shooting from the field.
Harris came into the game ranked third in the CEBL in points per game and was magnificent once again with 26 points, four rebounds, three assists and three steals. Chatman followed suit with 20 points.
Xaiver Rathan-Mayes, who had 15 points, seven rebounds and three assists, continued the hot start for the Shooting Stars as they opened up a 13-point lead in the second quarter. The Rattlers struggled with the Shooting Stars defensive pressure around the perimeter and the free throws began to add up for Scarborough as they attacked the rim aggressively and drew fouls off turnovers.
Saskatchewan began to battle back with a three pointer from Anthony Tsegakele and Jordy Tshimanga finding easy shots at the rim, but Scarborough quickly answered with Kalif Young going to the free throw line, gathering his own miss, and getting fouled again. The Shooting Stars took a 52-34 lead into half time.
Davonte Bandoo started the second half with a three-point shot and Tony Carr and Scottie Lindsey made two deep shots to follow to cut it to a nine-point lead. Harris and Šarūnas Vasiliauskas would respond to right the ship for Scarborough and bring it back to a 19-point lead. The Rattlers found some answers defensively in the third but were never able to put together a run to cut into the Scarborough lead.
While the Rattlers offence failed to string together the run that would get them back into to the game, Lindsey had a 31-point, six rebound performance that led all scorers and Carr chipped in 21 points, seven rebounds and four assists.
Carr opened the fourth with a technical foul, but he would lead Saskatchewan on another run to cut the lead to 10 in the first minutes of the fourth quarter before Harris and the Shooting Stars had yet another answer to bring the lead up to 19 points heading into Elam time. Once again, Harris took over in Elam time and Rathan-Mayes made the final shot of the game.
The Shooting Stars have a chance to end their road trip undefeated if they can make it past the Fraser Valley Bandits at the Langley Events Centre on Saturday. After that they will have a short break before returning home for a rematch against the Hamilton Honey Badgers in Scarborough.
