The Scarborough Shooting Stars have entered the post-Cole world on a winning streak with a 78-69 victory over the Edmonton Stingers on the road.
After posting a career-high six points on back-to-back threes, guard Jermaine Cole has departed the team to go on tour just before the team’s first west coast road trip.
The Shooting Stars came out playing aggressive full court defense, led once again by Jalen Harris who scored seven of his 21 points in the first quarter. With Cole out of the lineup, Sarunas Vasiliauskas took over as the first guard off the bench and scored 11 points including three made shots from beyond the arc.
Both teams battled early and David Pekarek’s fall away shot tied it up after one. The back-and-forth battle continued into the second quarter with Edmonton taking the lead 36-34 at half time.
After the break, Kameron Chatman continued to make his case for being the second option on the team with 19 points and seven rebounds and the Shooting Stars began to lock in defensively in the final moments of the third quarter as Edmonton struggled with their shot from three. The defensive effort extended into the fourth quarter where Scarborough held Edmonton to 12 points.
Aher Uguak led Edmonton in scoring with 13 points and three rebounds.
The Shooting Stars led 69-66 going into Elam time and Harris took control of the offence in the final moments of the game. While he missed his first three shots in Elam time, he made the last the five points to clinch Scarborough’s second win a row.
The road trip continues for Scarborough over the next week as they’ll see the Saskatchewan Rattlers on Wednesday, the Fraser Valley Bandits on Saturday and finally return home on June 25 when they face the Hamilton Honey Badgers for the second time this year.
