The Scarborough Shooting Stars finished their regular season with a 95-88 win over the Newfoundland Growlers on the road. Scarborough now ties Fraser Valley at 12-8. The Growlers finish their regular season 6-14.
Newfoundland got the ball inside the paint to Nysier Brooks and found lanes to the rim for Shaquille Keith, and Jahvon Blair. The Growlers took a 7-6 lead before Kameron Chatman and Kassius Robertson both got to the rim to keep the Shooting Stars going back and forth.
Throughout the first quarter, Newfoundland got quickly down the floor to establish their offence early in the shot clock, and Scarborough worked the ball around the perimeter to find shooters. Scarborough led 25-24 at the end of the first quarter.
Scarborough took control in the second quarter. They outscored the Growlers 26-12 and took a 15-point lead. Their point of attack continued to be their ball movement and the off-ball movement of their guards, and they found Robertson and Kalif Young often. For the Growlers, they kept pace on the boards but Scarborough’s eight steals made it hard for Newfoundland to chain together buckets. Scarborough led 51-36 at the end of the second quarter.
Keith took over early in the third quarter, giving a spark on defence and finding his shots on offence. The Growlers worked up the floor and found Keith early in the shot clock. Allen was the primary contributor for the Shooting Stars in the quarter. Scarborough held a 71-68 lead going into the fourth.
Scarborough slowly built back their lead through the first six minutes of the fourth. With Kameron Chatman inside the paint and Robertson continuing to hit from distance, Scarborough pushed out to an 86-73 lead. Newfoundland worked the ball around to their shooters but were unable to hit and Scarborough controlled the boards. Going into Elam time, the Shooting Stars led 86-73 with the target score 95.
Brooks started Elam time with a three and Isiaha Mike answered right back with a three of his own just as the Shooting Stars did all afternoon. Keith hit a three followed by a Blair layup. Young at the free throw line put the Shooting Stars at 91. Kahlil Whitney hit a jumper to give the Growlers 83 points.The final points from the Shooting Stars came from Young at the free throw line and Allen at the rim. The Shooting Stars won 95-88.
Allen’s game winner gave him 22 points on the night to go with two rebounds, two assists and three steals. Robertson scored 22 points along with his five rebounds and five assists and two steals. Young got a double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds to go with seven assists and a steal. Chatman rounded out the scoring with 13 points, six rebounds, four assists and four steals.
For the Growlers, five players finished in double-digits led by Keith with 20 points, four rebounds and an assist. Brooks scored 18 on 80 per cent shooting and led the rebounding with seven rebounds, to go with a pair of assists. Blair scored 15 points, grabbed five rebounds and assisted on five baskets. Whitney scored 13 points and Kennedy scored 10 points.
Robertson talked about his impact with Scarborough, “I’m just trying to find my rhythm, it’s my second game with Scarborough, the guys are all great guys so it’s fun playing with them but I’m just trying to get a little bit of momentum before going into playoffs.”
Robertson talked about the focus of the team after the win to end the regular season, “we’re composed right now, we knew what we had to do. We didn’t want to take any chances with going into that bye game or anything like that so we knew we had to win regardless of what else happened in the league so we’re composed, we’re focused, not too excited because we know we got a lot of business ahead of us.”
Fans will be able to live stream all games including the playoffs on the CEBL’s OTT streaming service CEBL+, the CEBL’s official app, CEBL Mobile for iOS and Android devices, cbcsports.ca , the free CBC Gem streaming service, the CBC Sports App for iOS and Android devices and on NXT Level Sports in the U.S. As part of its playoff coverage, CBC Sports will broadcast the quarterfinal games Sunday, August 7, semifinal games Friday, August 12, and the Championship game on Sunday, August 14. For the complete broadcast and streaming schedule, click here . All times are subject to change.
The CEBL’s fourth regular season began May 25 and ends August 1. A league created by Canadians for Canadians, the CEBL is the largest pro sports league in the country with 10 teams located in six provinces. It has the highest percentage of Canadian players of any professional league in the country, with 71 percent of its current rosters being Canadians. Players bring experience from the NBA, NBA G League, top international leagues, the Canadian National team program, and top NCAA programs as well as U SPORTS. The only First Division Professional League Partner of Canada Basketball, the CEBL season runs from May through August. Head to CEBL.ca for more information or follow us (@cebleague) on Instagram , Twitter , TikTok , LinkedIn , Facebook & YouTube .