The Scarborough Shooting Stars search for their fourth consecutive victory as they close out their west coast road trip at Langley Events Centre on Saturday in a matchup with the Fraser Valley Bandits at 5:00 p.m. PT. Scarborough enters Saturday’s contest coming off a 99-83 win over Saskatchewan and a 78-69 win over Edmonton on their west coast trip, along with a 99-81 home win over Newfoundland.
After starting the season with two losses, the Shooting Stars have won four of their last five games. In three of those wins, Scarborough was victorious by double digits. They currently sit 5th in the Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL) standings, just one spot behind their opponent on Saturday, Fraser Valley, who enter the game 4-2.
The Fraser Valley Bandits picked up a narrow 84-81 victory on the road against their rivals out of Edmonton on Wednesday night at the Expo Centre. It was Fraser Valley’s first win over the Stingers since July of 2020 and just their second all-time, with Edmonton winning 9 of 11 meetings.
Shane Gibson led Fraser Valley down the stretch, scoring 14 of his 19 points in the second half while also collecting 5 rebounds and delivering 4 assists. He also scored the game-winning layup in transition.
“I’d really like to carry over the hard fought team effort,” Bandits’ head coach Mike Taylor said. “We had a bunch of guys work hard and make plays and the bench contributed.”
The Bandits have struggled more than other CEBL teams offensively this season. They sit ninth in the league in both points per game with 80 and field goal percentage at 42.2. Meanwhile, Scarborough is fourth in both categories at 84.7 points per game and 45.3 per cent shooting.
The Bandits will look to their young big man Thomas Kennedy to provide an inside presence against Scarborough’s size. Kennedy is averaging 12.2 points per game on a league-best 69.6 per cent from the field while hauling in 8 rebounds per game.
Gibson enters the game as the Bandits’ leading scorer with 14.5 points per game, with Murphy Burnatowski, Alex Campbell and Kadre Gray all playing crucial roles in the offence as well. Burnatowski’s smooth left-handed jumper has been great all season, averaging 13.2 points per game on 48 per cent shooting from three. Campbell averages 12.5 points per game while Gray is averaging 9.8 points and 4.7 assists.
Meanwhile, the Shooting Stars have relied heavily on Jalen Harris this season. Harris sits second in the CEBL in scoring at 21.4 points per game along with 1.3 steals per game. Kameron Chatman is averaging 14.1 points and 5.8 rebounds for Scarborough with Xavier Rathan-Mayes and Isiaha Mike contributing 12.3 points per game and 11.3 points per game respectively.
The game will stream on CEBL+ live internationally and in Canada at cbcsports.ca, the CBC Sports app for iOS
and Android devices and the free CBC Gem streaming service. Games are also available on the CEBL’s official app, CEBL Mobile, available on iOS and Android devices.
Scarborough Shooting Stars season tickets are available at https://www.scarboroughshootingstars.ca/tickets554a5865 while Fraser Valley Bandits season tickets are available at https://www.thebandits.ca/season-tickets .
A league created by Canadians for Canadians, the CEBL 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 .