OTTAWA, ON – Scarborough got their first win of the 2022 CEBL season when they defeated the Ottawa BlackJacks 98-81. The Shooting Stars moved to 1-2 on the season while Ottawa 0-3.
The first quarter started with the Shooting Stars showing their shooting offence. Isiaha Mike hit two of the Shooting Stars three threes and helped push Scarborough to a 11-4 lead following a David Muenkat layup. The volume of the Shooting Stars offence was paired with efficient shooting but as the BlackJacks turned up their execution they were able to cut the deficit and take a lead midway through the first quarter, 12-11 until Jalen Harris took the lead back. Scarborough shot 58 per cent as a team in the first quarter to the BlackJacks 33 per cent, and in that offence they attempted 13 threes and made eight of them, Isiaha Mike making two of them.
Ottawa found their offence inside the paint with Posthumus and Deng Adel, and that continued in the second quarter. Cody John and Tyrell Green came in off the bench and immediately got on the scoreboard, Green and John each with a three, and Scarborough’s 28-16 first quarter lead was cut to 30-26 just a few minutes into the second quarter. Ottawa improved their efficiency and execution but Scarborough maintained the consistent scoring they had shown throughout the game thus far and they held a 43-40 lead going into halftime, not giving up the lead once in the second quarter.
At the half, Adel led all BlackJacks with 10 points to go with his two rebounds and four assists. Walt Lemon Jr. scored seven, tallied three rebounds, assisted on two baskets and got two steals. In the Shooting Stars roster, Mike shot 3-4 from the perimeter and led Scarborough with 13 points, eight rebounds and one assist at halftime. Jalen Harris was second on the Shooting Stars with seven points and a pair of assists.
Scarborough continued their efficient offence in the third quarter and didn’t give Ottawa an opportunity to hold a lead. The Shooting Stars powered by Xavier Rathan-Mayes and Jalen Harris found holes in the BlackJacks defence and hit their shots. They ended the third quarter with a field goal percentage of 51 while attempting 28 threes. For the BlackJacks, they continued to primarily get the ball inside the paint, while Maxime Boursiquot and Adel gave them relief from beyond the arc. At the end of the quarter Scarborough held a 74-63 lead over the BlackJacks. Mike continued to contribute, recording 15 going into the fourth quarter, Adel leading the BlackJacks with 18.
Ottawa cut the deficit to seven early in the fourth quarter thanks to a layup, steal and layup from Boursiquot and two straight baskets from Walt Lemon Jr. From then on, Kameron Chatman and Rathan-Mayes made sure the Shooting Stars lead didn't stay below 10 and sent Scarborough into Elam time up 89-75. Bernard Thompson gave the BlackJacks a three earlier in the fourth to cut the deficit back to nine, 84-75, and he started Elam time with back to back threes to cut the Shooting Stars lead back to 10 at 91-81. The target score was set at 98 and after the two Thompson threes, the Shooting Stars answered with Harris and Rathan-Mayes who hit a game winning pullup three to give Scarborough the 98-81 win.
All five Shooting Stars starters finished in double-digits on the scoreboard, Harris recording 17, Rathan-Mayes 14, Chatman 16, Kalif Young 10 and Mike 17. Mike led the Shooting Stars in rebounds with nine while Rathan-Mayes led with nine assists.
Adel led the BlackJacks with 18 points on 53 per cent shooting to go with six rebounds and nine assists. Lemon Jr. recorded 17 on 58 per cent shooting, five rebounds and a pair of assists and steals.
Scarborough head coach Chris Exilus praised Isiaha Mike after his performance saying, “Isiaha Mike is a great player, very strong, winner, he likes to get after it, good person to have around your team in terms of competing and his skill level is very high so we’re thankful to have him on our team.”
Charles Dube-Brais said of his teams performance, “from the get go they (Scarborough) made a lot, some of them is on us but some of that was also tough shot making because we allowed them to get into rhythm, we brought that very very close after halftime and we felt at that point that the physical domination was probably trending in our direction, points in the paint I think we were plus fifteen, we’re trying to get downhill and we succeed at that we just weren’t efficient enough at finishing those plays off, left a lot on the table and only shot 50 per cent from the foul line”