The Scarborough Shooting Stars picked up their first ever home win 99-81 on Tuesday in an expansion matchup with the Newfoundland Growlers.
In front of a star-studded crowd that featured Drake and Denver Nuggets star Jamal Murray, the Shooting Stars rode Jalen Harris’s team record 38 points to a victory.
Harris scored in a variety of ways, going 15-26 from the field and 3-9 from three, adding 7 rebounds and 3 assists to his stat line. Entering the game leading the league in field goal percentage and rebounds per game, Kyle Alexander put up another double-double with 18 points on 7-12 shooting, hauling in 11 rebounds and blocking 2 shots. Isiaha Mike chipped in 14 points for the Shooting Stars, going 3-4 from beyond the arc and collecting 9 rebounds.
J Cole played a season-high 19 minutes in the win, hitting both threes he attempted and bringing in 2 rebounds as well.
Meanwhile, former Cape Breton University Caper Shaquille Keith balled out for the Growlers in a losing effort. Keith netted 36 points on 13-18 shooting from the field, 3-4 from three and 7-11 from the line to go along with 4 steals. Coming off a league record 42 point performance against Ottawa, Brandon Sampson scored 18 points on 4-16 shooting in the loss for Newfoundland.
Scarborough shot 48 per cent as a team and 36 per cent from three in the win. They outrebounded the Growlers 48-35 as well. Newfoundland shot 39 per cent from the floor, 25 per cent from three and 69 per cent from the free throw line.
The first quarter saw the Shooting Stars get off to a strong start, opening the game with a 9-0 run. J Cole electrified the crowd, hitting a pair of corner threes in the first quarter to give him a season high 6 points. Mukama ended the quarter with a buzzer-beating contested three to put Scarborough up 27-17.
The Shooting Stars continued to shoot well in the second half with Jalen Harris putting together his best half of the season. Harris scored in a myriad of ways—off the dribble mid-range jumpers, catch-and-shoot threes and contested finishes at the run. He led Scarborough with 16 points in the first half, on an efficient 7-12 from the field. The Shooting Stars went into the locker room leading 49-36, shooting 54 per cent from the field and 43 per cent from the three.
The Growlers were cold in the first half, shooting 36 per cent from the field and 26 per cent from three. Shaquille Keith led all scorers in the first half with 17 points, keeping Newfoundland in the game. After his scorching hot performance against Ottawa, Brandon Sampson opened the the game a bit cold. He struggled to get calls from the officials despite contact but finished the half with 8 points.
Kyle Alexander had a strong start to the third quarter for the Shooting Stars, scoring on an alley-pop and two inside finishes to force Patrick Ewing Jr. to call a timeout. Khalil Whitney played some inspired basketball after the timeout, scoring all 8 of his points in the third quarter, including an alley-oop slam off an in-bounds play. However, the Shooting Stars were able to weather every Growlers run and carried a 75-60 lead into the final quarter.
Scarborough kept piling on Newfoundland in the fourth quarter and entered the Elam ending leading 90-72 with a target score of 99. Jalen Harris scored 6 points in the Elam ending and in his Shooting Stars debut, Sarunas Vasiliauskas closed out the game at the free throw line.
Newfoundland will look to bounce back against the Niagara River Lions on Friday at 7:00 p.m. ET at Meridian Centre, while Scarborough’s next matchup puts them against the defending champion Edmonton Stingers at Edmonton Expo Centre Sunday at 3 p.m. MT.
The games 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.
Newfoundland Growlers season tickets are available at https://am.ticketmaster.com/growlers/ while Scarborough Shooting Stars season tickets are available at https://www.scarboroughshootingstars.ca/tickets554a5865 .
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