Saskatchewan Rattlers End Losing Streak with 79-65 Win Over Scarborough Shooting Stars
The Saskatchewan Rattlers (3-6) snapped a five-game losing streak with their second victory of season against the Scarborough Shooting Stars (5-5) in a 79-65 win at home on Sunday afternoon.
CEBL points per game leader Justin Wright-Foreman led all scorers with 30 points and 6 three pointers.
“Wow,” Saskatchewan head coach Dean Demopoulos said after the game. “Like most of the time I watch him play, [Wright-Foreman] has that ‘it’ stuff that everybody talks about but can’t explain.”
Wright-Foreman landed on his hip awkwardly in Saskatchewan’s last game against Winnipeg, and he came up limping—favouring his hip—after his first three in the first quarter
“I wasn’t really too worried about my hip even though it was a problem,” said Wright-Foreman, who scored 36 points in a 96-84 win over Scarborough on June 4.
“They came with heavy double teams but we had a plan for that. My teammates came up big and helped me get the ball out of my hands and make the right reads.”
While Wright-Foreman sunk 6 of his 11 three pointers, Scarborough had trouble getting the long ball to drop all afternoon.
As a team, the Shooting Stars shot 1-26 from three. Their first made three didn’t come until roughly halfway through the third quarter when Cat Barber finally sunk a triple.
Scarborough’s 65 points also marks the fewest amount of points they’ve scored in a game all season.
Both teams came into today’s matchup going in opposite directions. While Saskatchewan had dropped five games in a row, Scarborough used a four-game winning streak to vault into sole possession of first place in the eastern conference.
But the Shooting Stars’ shooting woes started from the tip.
Scarborough scored just 10 points in the first quarter—and 24 in the first half—while Barber struggled with foul trouble.
Barber, who is averaging over 23 points per game, recorded two fouls in the first quarter and had to sit for a majority of the frame.
Wright-Foreman, meanwhile, who entered today’s contest averaging a CEBL-best 28.8 points per game, scored 7 of his 30 points in the first.
After Barber collected another foul in the third, he was primarily stuck on the bench. Barber played a little over nine minutes in the first half.
Forward Kyree Walker, though, helped Scarborough stay in the game despite Barber’s foul trouble.
Walker chipped in with six points in the first half, and finished with a near double-double: scoring 15 points and grabbing 9 boards.
“I just focused on getting downhill, that’s the best thing that I think I do,” Walker said. “I’m a fast, downhill type of guy, I think that’s my best attribute to the team, so when I get downhill I’m able to create for myself and others.”
The Rattlers started to build a lead early in the second. Julian Roche scored six straight points in the quarter and Saskatchewan claimed a 41-24 at half.
In the third, however, led by Barber, Scarborough cut the lead to 10 points by the end of the quarter.
“The key part that we did was that we kept playing,” Scarborough head coach Chris Exilus said. “We had a couple times where we cut the lead to single digits… I like the fight that we had in the second half.”
Barber scored 12 points in the frame, as the Shooting Stars nearly scored as many points in the quarter (23) as they did in the first two combined (24). Barber finished with a team-high 18 points. ‘
Wright-Foreman responded with 10 points in the quarter as the two high-scoring guards went head-to-head.
But the Shooting Stars would not be able to overcome their early deficit. Finnish guard Trey Niemi, who finished with 12 points, chipped in with three triples in the second half.
On the other side, Scarborough still struggled to get any three pointers to drop, and the Rattlers’ took a 11-point lead into target score time.
In target score, Wright-Foreman’s sixth three pointer of the night extended Saskatchewan’s lead to 15, and Malik Benlevi scored his one and only point on the afternoon from the free throw line to seal the game.
Saskatchewan also outrebounded Scarborough 58-39.
The Rattlers will look to continue their climb back up the western conference standings with a road matchup against the Montréal Alliance on Wednesday.
Scarborough will head to Calgary on Wednesday for the second game of their three-game road trip.
Full broadcast schedule of CEBL Games of the Week on TSN can be found here. All games will also be streamed live internationally on the CEBL’s OTT platform, CEBL+, and on the CEBL Mobile app for iOS and Android devices.
A league created by Canadians for Canadians with a mission to develop Canadian players, coaches, sports executives, and referees, the CEBL boasts the highest percentage of Canadian players of any pro league in the country with 71 percent of its 2022 rosters being Canadian. Players bring experience from the NBA, NBA G League, top international pro leagues, the Canadian National team program, and top NCAA programs as well as U SPORTS. Nine players have moved from the CEBL into the NBA following a CEBL season, and 28 CEBL players attended NBA G League training camps during October. The CEBL season runs from May through August. More information about the CEBL is available at CEBL.ca and @cebleague on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, LinkedIn, Facebook & YouTube.
