Sixteen points away from achieving victory in Elam time, the Scarborough Shooting Stars came back to win over the Hamilton Honey Badgers 75-72 in a thrilling game at Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre on Saturday night.
The victory puts the Shooting Stars above .500 on the season at 5-4, winning four of their past five games and avaenging their 15 point loss to Hamilton earlier in June. Meanwhile, the Honey Badgers drop to 7-3 on the season and fall behind 7-2 Fraser Valley in the Canadian Elite Basketball League standings. This is the first time the Honey Badgers have lost consecutive games this season, after losing to Guelph 89-83 on Sunday.
“We’ll bounce back,” Honey Badgers head coach Ryan Schmidt said. “These guys are pissed. They feel like this game was taken from them and they’re right. But again we got a resilient group and these guys are competitors and they know we have to get back on track. I’m not worried about it.”
Kameron Chatman had the game-winning bucket for the Shooting Stars and a team-high 21 points in the win. Jalen Harris scored 19 points for Scarborough but struggled to be efficient, going 7-21 from the field, 0-5 from three and 4-8 from the free throw line to go along with 4 turnovers. Isiaha Mike also chipped in 12 points and 8 rebounds for the Shooting Stars.
Christian Vital brought energy and intensity for the Honey Badgers despite the loss. He finished with a game-high 22 points on 8-19 shooting from the field and 6-10 from three to go along with 6 assists, 4 rebounds and 4 steals. With Caleb Agada absent, Koby McEwan stepped up with 15 points for Hamilton while Keevan Veinot had 11 points off the bench. Averaging 15 points per game entering the game, Jeremiah Tilmon had a quiet night, going scoreless on 0-3 shhooting.
Scarborough finished the game shooting 40 per cent from the field and they were able to hold the league’s best offense to 36 per cent shooting and 72 points. Both teams struggled from the free throw line with neither squad reaching 60 per cent. Turnovers also plagued both squads with Scarborough at 19 and Hamilton at 21. However, the Shooting Stars were better able to capitalize off the turnovers, outscoring the Honey Badgers 27-11 in points off turnovers.
The opening five minutes saw both teams play through their stars. Christian Vital scored Hamilton’s first 8 points of the game while Jalen Harris scored Scarborough’s opening 6 points. Harris ended the quarter 2-7 from the field while Vital added another deep three later in the quarter to finish the opening frame with 11 points. A Kalif Young pump fake and slam closed out the quarter with a 18-14 lead for the Shooting Stars.
Former Dalhousie Tiger Keevan Veinot provided a boost off the bench for the Honey Badgers to start the second quarter. Veinot opened the quarter with an and-one, an assist to Michael Okafor resulting in another and-one, and a catch-and-shoot three. Another AUS alumni, St. FX’s David Muenkat, rocked the rim with a two-handed jam in transition off a beautiful pass from Sarunas Vasiliauskas to regain the lead for Scarborough. The teams remained close for the remainder of the first half, with the Shooting Stars taking 38-36 lead into the second half.
Vital led all scorers at halftime with 14 points to go along with 3 rebounds wile Harris led the Shooting Stars with 10 points. The teams were fairly even statistically heading into the locker room, with both teams going 12-32 from the field and hauling in 22 rebounds. The biggest difference came from Scarborough’s points off turnovers, outscoring the Honey Badgers 15-5.
In the third quarter, both teams continued to battle defensively in a tightly conetested matchup. The Shooting Stars were the hotter team to open the third and were able to pick up a 51-42 lead before going on a 10-3 run to end the quarter. After a 16-16 quarter, the Shooting Stars carried a 54-52 lead into the final frame.
Jalen Harris showed off his high-flying athleticism with a dunk to open the fourth quarter for Scarborough. Harris picked up another bucket before Veinot and Vital were able to score to tie the game at 58. McEwan hit a contested corner three to give the Honey Badgers a 61-59 with just two minutes until Elam time. Vital hit his sixth three of the game from the left wing to give Hamilton a 64-59 lead and force a Scarborough timeout.
Coming out of the timeout, Harris missed a contested jumper and the Shooting Stars struggled to get open looks offensively. Prince Oduro showed off his low-post presence with a dropstep bucket to give the Honey Badgers a 66-59 lead heading into the Elam ending with a target score of 75.
The Shooting Stars went on a run to take the lead to start Elam time with a three from Isiaha Mike followed by 5 straight points from Kameron Chatman. McEwan answered with a huge three to regain the lead at 69-67. After a handful of scoreless possessions, Jalen Harris tied the game at 69 with a transition layup.
Aaron Best drove and finished with his left-hand but missed the and-one free throw and after a few possessions later, Chatman slammed home the game tying bucket. Isiaha Mike put the Shooting Stars one bucket away from victory with a mid-range jumper off the dribble. Oduro missed one of two free throws, giving Scarborough a chance to win. After Mike missed a layup, a scramble ensued and Kameron Chatman hit a game-winner fading towards the baseline.
“I think the game was poorly officiated,” coach Schmidt said. “I thought both teams played extremely hard but as far as what went wrong—I’m trying to keep my money in my pocket but that’s inexcusable in my opinion,”
The Hamilton Honey Badgers will look to bounce back against the Guelph Nighthawks on Thursday at FirstOntario Centre at 7:00 p.m. ET in a rematch of last week’s six-point loss. The Shooting Stars will play again on Monday at Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre at 7:30 p.m. ET against the Ottawa BlackJacks.
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.
Scarborough Shooting Stars season tickets are available at https://www.scarboroughshootingstars.ca/tickets554a5865 while Hamilton Honey Badgers season tickets are available at https://www.honeybadgers.ca/tickets .
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