SCARBOROUGH, ON – The Honey Badgers defeated the Shooting Stars during Scarborough’s home opener by a score of 84-69. Hamilton moves to 3-1 on the season while Scarborough falls to 1-3.
Scarborough’s Isiaha Mike was the spark for Scarborough inside the paint. He got an and-one dunk to go midway through the quarter and brought energy to the Shooting Stars fast paced play. After Scarborough jumped out to a 7-2 lead, Hamilton found their shot and climbed back, specifically Christian Vital who made four threes in the first quarter. Hamilton kick started their transition offence after defensive rebounds and the six Scarborough turnovers to jump out to a 26-14 lead at the end of the first quarter. Vital made four of five threes to lead the game with 12 first quarter points.
The second half featured teams each playing at a fast pace, and both defences took advantage with steals. Both Hamilton and Scarborough finished the first half with 11 turnovers, but Hamilton turned those into 14 points off turnovers while Scarborough only generated 8, allowing them to maintain a lead throughout the quarter. Xavier Rathan-Mayes got to the rim and got his team to the foul line. Scarborough shot 13 total free throws as of half to the Honey Badgers seven, and Rathan-Mayes entered the break with 15 points off 60 per cent shooting to lead the Shooting Stars. On the opposite end, Vital led the Honey Badgers with 18 off of his shooting. Hamilton went into half with a 43-36 lead over Scarborough.
Hamilton nearly doubled the Shooting Stars third quarter points and pushed their lead to 17 through their ability to get into the paint and the foul line. JV Mukama and Rathan-Mayes were the bright spots for the Shooting Stars during a struggling third, Mukama scoring five points and Rathan-Mayes facilitating, but the Shooting Stars only scored 12 points in the quarter to the Honey Badgers 22. Vital pushed his points up to 20 going into the fourth on 50 per cent shooting while Koby McEwen shot six free throws and made one jumper to score eight off of the bench. Entering the fourth quarter the Honey Badgers led 65-48.
The Honey Badgers offence couldn't get shots to fall early in the fourth and Rathan-Mayes cut his way into the deficit. He scored seven points early in the fourth and got the Shooting Stars within 11 with 6:51 remaining, 68-57. Hamilton continued to get to the line and found transition offence off steals. Going into Elam time, Hamilton held a 74-59 lead with the target score set at 83. Hamilton held on to their lead and took the victory over Scarborough 84-69.
Vital led the scoring for the Honey Badgers with 27 points and five made threes to go with his six rebounds, one assist and four steals. Mcewen finished with 12 points and four rebounds while Caleb Agada had 14 points, nine rebounds, two assists and a steal. Rathan-Mayes led the Shooting Stars with 28 points, five rebounds, two assists and three steals.
Rathan-Mayes said he feels a sense of leadership among the Shooting Stars with his experience and age, “they brought me in to be in that leadership role, to rally the troops, to be that voice in the locker room and I take pride in that, in being a Scarborough kid and being one of the older guys on the team, I take pride in letting my experience be known and letting my work set the precedent for the Scarborough Shooting Stars.”