Game-Winning Free Throw Sends Scarborough Shooting Stars to 91-89 Victory Over Edmonton Stingers

With the shot clock winding down in target score time, Cat Barber got to the free throw line and nailed a pair of free throws to give the Scarborough Shooting Stars (7-5) a 91-89 win on the road against the Edmonton Stingers (5-6).

Barber, who recorded only 6 points in the first half, responded with 20 points in the final two quarters to finish with a game-high 26 points.

“My team put a lot of trust in me, the coaches put a lot of trust in me, and I put the trust in myself,” Barber said after the game.

“I put the work in, and anytime I gonna get it.”

As a team, Scarborough used their muscles in the paint to find scoring opportunities. After scoring 56 paint points in a win against the Calgary Surge last night, the Shooting Stars racked up 42 points in the paint tonight.

David Muenkat, specifically, had four opportunities to convert three-point plays from the line after being fouled inside. The 6’7” forward from Brampton converted three of those three-point chances.

Scarborough’s strong presence inside neutralized Edmonton’s advantage from the three point line.

Although Scarborough got 9 three pointers to fall tonight—four more than they converted in their previous two games combined—Edmonton racked up 13 three pointers.

Brody Clarke, who finished with a team-high 21 points, had two of those threes. Aher Uguak nailed three triples himself and finished with 17 points.

From the tip, Edmonton jumped out to an early lead. After getting outscored 32-17 in the first quarter in a loss to the Montréal Alliance on Sunday, the Stingers went on a 10-0 run to begin the game and converted 8 of their first 10 shots.

But despite leading by nine points after the first, as they would do all night, Scarborough hung around and managed to climb back into the game.

“We let them hang around,” Edmonton head coach Jordan Baker said. “We’d get a little bit of a lead, we let them back in the ball game, and when it gets to that last four minutes anything can happen.”

With Barber struggling to find his groove in the first half, it was the Shooting Stars’ supporting cast who stepped up.

Muenkat racked up two three-point plays on back-to-back possessions, and Thomas Kennedy scored six straight points in the final 90 seconds of the half to bring Scarborough within two points.

In the final seconds of the half, David Walker knocked down a three at the buzzer to give Scarborough a 45-44 edge heading into the break.

“This is an extremely resilient group. It’s hard to win tough games on the road and the guys kept battling,” Scarborough head coach Chris Exilus said. “They refused to lose.”

When the game moved into the second half, Barber started to take over. The dynamic guard recorded 7 points in the third, which helped overcome a Stingers squad that nailed five three pointers in the frame. At the end of the quarter, the game was tied at 70.

Heading into target score time, the game was deadlocked at 82, with both teams refusing to let one another get ahead.

After Scarborough scored a couple buckets to take a 86-82 lead, Edmonton responded by freeing up Isiah Osborne for a wide open three on a set play out of a timeout. Osborne finished with 16 points and four threes.

The Stingers forced the Shooting Stars into a shot clock violation on the next possession, but the two teams traded makes on ensuing possessions to even the game at 89.

Scarborough and Edmonton both had chances to seal the game, but on the final possession, Kennedy got his own rebound on a miss and fed Barber on the left side of the court. With two seconds left on the shot clock, Barber was fouled on a three-point attempt. He nailed his first two free throws from the stripe to seal the game.

With the win, Scarborough moved into a tie with Ottawa—who won at home against Saskatchewan earlier in the night—for first place in the eastern conference.

The Shooting Stars will take an extended break before returning to CEBL action on July 9 against the Niagara River Lions.

Edmonton, meanwhile, will look to shake off the loss in a Canada Day showdown in Vancouver against the Bandits on Saturday night.

“It was a back and forth game, you get out to an early lead, you can’t expect to run away with it,” Baker said.

“They’re professionals over there… For us, it’s how do you string together 40 minutes of consistent basketball.”

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.