CEBL NEWS ARTICLES

Canada Day tripleheader tips off Week 9

The Vancouver Bandits are proud to announce a three-year commitment to the Terry Fox Foundation, supporting cancer research across Canada. The commitment includes the continuation of the club wearing its special edition Terry Fox tribute jersey, which will be worn during its upcoming Canada Day match-up versus the Scarborough Shooting Stars, which tips off at 5 p.m. PT (8 p.m. ET) on Tuesday, July 1, 2025, at Langley Events Centre. Tickets for the game are available for purchase and the game will be nationally televised on TSN. The special edition tribute jersey, which features iconic imagery of Terry Fox and celebrates the legacy of his Marathon of Hope, was launched in 2024. Proceeds from each jersey sold were donated to the Terry Fox Foundation in support of cancer research across Canada and public response was overwhelmingly positive. “Terry Fox is a national hero whose legacy continues to inspire generations. As a team rooted in community, we are honoured to partner with the Terry Fox Foundation over the next three years to carry forward Terry’s message of courage, hope, and determination, “ said Dylan Kular, Vancouver Bandits team president. “The special edition jersey pays tribute to Terry’s vision and a symbol of the strength we all strive to embody, on and off the court.” The jersey is available in both adult and youth sizes online at this link . A limited selection of replica jerseys will be available for sale at the Bandits’ Canada Day match-up, which is dedicated in Terry’s honour. Each replica version jersey available for fans to purchase features the no. 4, which was the number worn by Terry during his season as a member of Simon Fraser University’s (SFU) junior varsity basketball team in 1977. Despite an eventual cancer diagnosis that required his right leg to be amputated, as well as chemotherapy and surgery, Fox continued to excel in sports. He joined Rick Hansen as a member of his wheelchair basketball team and eventually won three national titles with the team before embarking on his Marathon of Hope on April 12, 1980. Inscribed on the front and back of the special edition jersey are the names of all the cities, parks, and towns where Terry started and ended his daily run during his tremendous journey from St. John’s, Newfoundland to Thunder Bay, Ontario. Fox’s goal was to run from Canada’s east coast in Newfoundland to its west coast in Victoria, British Columbia, raising awareness and funds for cancer research. Terry’s Marathon of Hope spanned 143 days and 5,373 kilometres before he fell too ill to continue. He ran an average of 26 miles daily – equivalent to the distance of running a marathon each day of his mission across Canada. Fox’s running route spanning Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec and Ontario is etched on the jersey. Today, his legacy lives through various fundraising initiatives and the annual Terry Fox Run across the country and beyond. The jersey features a black, red, and white colour scheme, as well as colour blocked side panelling inspired by the patterning of Terry’s 1970s jersey worn at SFU. His no. 4 jersey has since been retired by the university as well as the high school he attended. The Bandits are one of 10 men’s professional basketball teams that annually compete in the Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL). The Bandits are midway through the club’s sixth CEBL season. The club’s home venue of Langley Events Centre is located just a 20-minute drive from Terry’s high school alma mater, Port Coquitlam Senior Secondary School, which was later renamed as “Terry Fox Secondary School.” More information is available at thebandits.ca and @vancouverbandits on Instagram and TikTok , as well as @vancitybandits on Facebook and Twitter . ### About Vancouver Bandits The Vancouver Bandits are British Columbia’s professional basketball team. As the westernmost club in the Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL), the Bandits offer an entertainment experience that combines a fast-paced game day atmosphere with a presentation of some of Canada’s top professional athletes within a world-class venue at Langley Events Centre (LEC), while also being committed to growing the game of basketball by fostering meaningful community connections through youth programming, events, and partnerships. About the Terry Fox Foundation: The Terry Fox Foundation honours the vision and spirit of an iconic Canadian while raising critical funds for cancer research. As a leading national charitable organization, the Terry Fox Foundation plays a vital role in building community, engaging more than 20,000 passionate volunteers and 3.5 million students in nearly 10,000 annual fundraising events across the country. Through the generous support of our donors, partners, and volunteers, the Terry Fox Foundation has raised more than $900 million and funded 1,300 innovative cancer research projects, bringing hope and health to millions of Canadians.

It was just as beautiful inside Edmonton EXPO Centre as it was outside on Sunday afternoon, as the Edmonton Stingers cemented an early lead and defeated the Scarborough Shooting Stars, 98-81. Today marked the second of Edmonton’s four-game homestand. In the first quarter, Edmonton resorted to a shot diet that was mostly inside the paint. They were one-for-five beyond the arc, while Scarborough shot two-for-14 from downtown. Edmonton got off to a 26-11 start. One of the keys to the game mentioned on the broadcast was for Edmonton to value their possessions – though every team talks about doing this, whether it’s actually practiced is another issue entirely. In the second frame, Donovan Williams hit a triple, Sean East missed a lay-up, and then Williams hit a step-through lay-up to inch with three points, forcing an Edmonton timeout. After that timeout, Edmonton scored a triple and a two-pointer to force a timeout. While it became a back-and-forth affair, East rose to the occasion and gave his team three three-pointers en route to a 13-6 run to close out the first half. If that second quarter was indicative of the “resilience” Nick Hornsby mentioned at halftime, it wasn’t just their star player answering. At the end of the first half, Edmonton took the wind out of Scarborough’s sails as Hornsby closed out with two made free throws after getting a deflection on the defensive end, gaining possession of the ball, and drawing a foul from David Walker. Right before the buzzer, Isiah Osborne got a block on Terquavion Smith that would deflate even the most confident of scorers. Edmonton built up a 15-point halftime lead, but they had to regain their lead as they came back sleepwalking at the start of the second half. It took a 13-0 run, punctuated by Smith’s back-to-back threes to force an Edmonton timeout. Scarborough was suddenly inched with two points with a lot more basketball to be played. “I mean I wanted to. I should have, honestly,” Edmonton head coach Jordan Baker said about how he should have taken a timeout earlier. “But we want our guys to work through some things…We’re a resilient group.” Smith made four three-pointers for Scarborough, and his squad was trying to overtake Edmonton. A tussle between Hornsby and Joirdon Nicholas made the third a chippy one as the game built up to a physical climax. Edmonton displayed resilience, however, by closing out the third quarter, just as they did in the first and second. Mike Nuga hit a three-pointer and Osborne hit a corner three after getting a pass from the opposite wing. The very first bucket at the start of the fourth was Osborne immediately hitting another three-pointer to give Edmonton a 11-point buffer. Edmonton closed out the game and never let their fourth-quarter lead get closer than eight points. Osborne now has 50 regular season steals and the defensive player had a strong offensive performance tonight. “He’s a guy that does a lot of the intangibles. He executes our game plan very well, he was disruptive against their top guys all night,” Coach Baker said. While Edmonton relies on the sum of its parts, East, the fourth-leading scorer in the league, had 27 points, shooting six-for-nine from downtown. East came into this game shooting a miraculous 50% (30-for-60) from three-point range. Keon Ambrose Hylton, who is second in the league in field goal percentage, hit a big three-pointer in the fourth quarter and finished with 11 points on five-for-eight shooting. Scarborough’s Williams, the league’s leading scorer, had 17 tonight. “It was a roller coaster,” Scarborough head coach Mike De Giorgio said after tonight’s game. Scarborough’s hunt for consistency continues after blowing out last year’s CEBL champions, defeating Winnipeg on the road, and losing tonight. “I thought our energy to start the game wasn’t as high. We weren’t locked into our coverages,” he said. Box score https://www.cebl.ca/game?id=2600623 Up next for both teams The Edmonton Stingers (7-6) host the third of their four-game homestand against the Montreal Alliance (5-5) on Canada Day. Scarborough (7-6) will move further west to face the league’s best Vancouver Bandits (9-3) on the same day as well. Next CEBL action There will be a total of three Canada Day games on Tuesday, July 1. Aside from the two mentioned above, the Winnipeg Sea Bears (5-7) will face the Ottawa BlackJacks (5-6) in the nation’s capital. For the full 2025 CEBL schedule and up-to-date results, please visit cebl.ca/games . - CEBL -

No Quinndary Weatherspoon, no problem for the Brampton Honey Badgers. Even without the services of their leading scorer, the home team managed to earn a wire-to-wire 91-66 win over the defending champion Niagara River Lions on Sunday afternoon. It was the Honey Badgers’ first double-digit victory of the season and improved the squad to a winning 4-3 record at the CAA Centre this season, all while evening the regular-season series 1-1 in after the second of four matchups between the conference rivals. Meanwhile, the loss dropped Niagara into a tie with the Scarborough Shooting Stars atop the East standings and made it back-to-back defeats, both by double-digits. David Muenkat led that charge as he finished with a season-high (and game-high) 24 points on 8-of-13 shooting and five made threes, capping his third consecutive game of scoring 20 or more. Behind him were the pair of Koby McEwen (19 points, 10 assists) and Amari Kelly (15 points, 12 rebounds), who chipped in double-double efforts. Rounding things out was Marcus Carr, scoring 13 of his 15 points in the final frame to go with eight assists on the night. “I thought we were solid with our energy throughout the game,” Honey Badgers head coach Sheldon Cassimy said post-game. “There were some runs, at times when we might’ve gotten flustered, but I thought we were able to weather Niagara’s runs and play a full 40 minutes.” On the other side, Ahmed Hill led the way with 13 points, the lone River Lions starter to shoot over 40 per cent from the field. Behind him was Khalil Ahmad with 10 points, nine rebounds, four assists and two steals. Meanwhile, Kimbal Mackenzie chipped in 12 points and five assists off the bench — spearheading a 29-9 edge in second-unit scoring, one of the few areas Niagara won on Sunday. “We’re not a good team right now, we can’t make shots.” River Lions head coach Victor Raso said after his team finished 33 per cent from the field (21-of-63) and 17 per cent from distance (5-of-17). “Can’t make shots, can’t consistently get stops, we’ve just lost our confidence … it’s not good enough.” It was clear as early as the opening frame that the Honey Badgers — after losing their first matchup of the season against the River Lions by 14 points — had revenge on their mind. And after carving out a 31-16 lead after 10 minutes of play, it’s safe to say some of that comeuppance was exacted. Brampton earned that big early lead thanks to a lights-out shooting effort, using a 3-for-3 start from downtown to spark an 11-2 run. The Honey Badgers, not long after, took the game’s first double-digit lead on yet another deep make, Ali Sow hitting their fourth triple of the quarter. “It was just about sharing the ball,” Cassimy explained of his team’s hot-shooting start. “We were giving up good shots to get great shots, getting into the paint and kicking the ball out, so it generated better team shots for us.” The Honey Badgers ultimately went 7-for-8 from beyond the arc in the opening frame, more than they made in the entirety of their 14-point loss to the River Lions, and in stark contrast to the 8.1 they usually make per game, which ranked second-fewest. All the while, Niagara went 0-for-7 from distance in the first, underscoring what was a struggle scoring all around as the River Lions went just 3-for-15 (20 per cent) from the field. “Disappointing,” Mackenzie said after the loss. “Not a good loss for us. Anytime you lose, it doesn’t feel good … they played better than us. It’s never just making (or missing) shots.” That trend only continued in the second quarter despite the River Lions cutting the deficit down to 10 points on a Mackenzie triple at the 8:25 mark, just their first long-distance make of the game. The Honey Badgers responded immediately with a 10-0 run, ballooning their lead as high as 23 points en route to a 56-35 advantage at halftime. Muenkat led that charge as he scored 12 of his game-high 17 halftime points in the second quarter, including Brampton’s final eight points going into the break. He shot 6-for-8 from the field and 4-of-5 from beyond the arc through 20 minutes. The Honey Badgers ended up making a season-high 15 threes, two shy of their franchise’s all-time single-game mark, doing so on a 45 per cent clip. The River Lions did build a bit of momentum toward the end of the third, however, capping off the quarter on an 8-2 while holding the Honey Badgers scoreless for the final two minutes to shrink their deficit to 16 points (67-51). Although that effort was short-lived as Brampton outscored Niagara by seven points through the first six minutes of the final frame, pushing its lead to 82-59 headed into Target Score Time. Carr was in charge of that response as he scored the Honey Badgers' first eight points in the fourth quarter. It was smooth sailing for the Honey Badgers from there, again, in part due to the Toronto native. He scored five of the necessary nine points for Brampton once the clocks stopped while Kelly bookended the effort with a pair of layups. “We can play, we’re not a pushover team,” Muenkat said when asked what beating the defending champions proved. “I don’t think our record is a real representation of the kind of team we are.” Box Score https://www.cebl.ca/game?id=2600622 Up next The Honey Badgers return Thursday to host the 8-4 Calgary Surge to wrap up a five-game homestand. Meanwhile, the River Lions head back to Niagara as they’ll host the 5-7 Winnipeg Sea Bears on Friday with hopes of putting an end to their skid. Next CEBL action Sunday’s double-header wraps up with a cross-conference matchup between the visiting 7-5 Scarborough Shooting Stars and 6-6 Edmonton Stingers at 6 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. local. For the full 2025 CEBL schedule and up-to-date results, please visit cebl.ca/games . - CEBL -

Sometimes it’s not about how you start, just how you finish. The Vancouver Bandits (9-3) proved as much with their 97-85 come-from-behind victory over the Saskatchewan Rattlers (3-10) on Saturday night at the Langley Events Centre. Vancouver won the second half by 22 points (52-30), turning what was a 10-point halftime deficit into a 12-point win that not only extended their lead atop the Western Conference but also snapped a two-game skid. Tyrese Samuel led that effort for the Bandits with a double-double of 23 points and 11 rebounds on a team-best 7-for-11 shooting. Right behind him was a pair of returnees in Mitch Creek, who chipped in 23 points of his own, and Kyle Mangas, who scored 22 on 6-for-11 shooting from distance. Meanwhile, Nick Ward, the franchise’s all-time leading scorer, made his season debut, albeit finishing with just two points on 1-of-4 shooting in seven minutes of action. Nate Pierre-Louis spearheaded Saskatchewan’s effort with a double-double as well, putting up 19 points and a game-high 11 assists. Jordan Bowden also scored 19 points to go with five rebounds and seven assists, while Deon Ejim (off the bench) and Grant Anticevich added 15 and 13 points, respectively. “It was a tough loss,” Ejim said with a tone of optimism post-game, noting how in the first two of four matchups against the Bandits this season, the Rattlers lost both by more than 20 points. “We didn’t have the ending that we wanted, but I was happy with the fight and the fact that we weren’t dominated like the last two games. Conventional wisdom would’ve said the Bandits ought to have led after the opening frame on Saturday, considering they finished the quarter 6-for-10 from distance, went 10-for-13 from the free throw line and forced three turnovers to their zero. Yet after Pierre-Louis’ triple in the final seconds of the frame capped off a 10-3 run, part of nine points in the first for him, it was the Rattlers that led 28-27 after 10 minutes. While Vancouver won the battle outside the arc, it was a completely different story on the interior as the Bandits were 0-for-6 on two-pointers throughout the first quarter, giving up an 8-0 edge on paint points to the Rattlers. Vancouver’s first two-point make didn’t come till 9:13 of the second. And after seizing the momentum, Saskatchewan made the most of it. Or rather, Ejim did, as the bench forward caught fire to the tune of 4-for-4 from distance in the second. His lights-out shooting led to a game-high 15 points at halftime as the Rattlers led 55-45 after winning the second quarter by nine points (26-17). “We’ve been in every single game this year,” Rattlers head coach Eric Magdanz said following the loss, noting how seven of the team’s losses have come by seven-or-fewer points. “We’re a team that competes hard … it’s a huge credit to our guys. “For us it’s about continued growth and we saw another step forward tonight.” It was a much-welcomed outburst for a Rattlers team that averaged just 8.6 makes from distance per game entering the night, third-fewest in the CEBL. They finished 13-for-28 (46 per cent) from distance as a team on Saturday. Whereas the taps turned off in the second for Vancouver after its perfect 5-for-5 start from distance on Saturday, as the Bandits made just one of their next 11 three-point attempts going into the break. That trend didn’t last, however, and ended up being a catalyst for their rally, making nine second-half threes on a 52 per cent clip. “We started off slow, we’ve had a lot of guys in and out of the lineup … so we really struggled in the first half to find our rhythm,” Creek said after the win. “It’s a bit of a chess match at the moment.” The first two of those makes came on back-to-back hits from Corey Davis. Jr and Mangas to open the third, they were part of a 14-4 run that was then capped off by a Creek fastbreak layup that gave Vancouver its first lead since the 0:41 mark of the opening quarter. And it was Mangas who punctuated that effort by Vancouver as he nailed a running, fading triple at the buzzer to extend the Bandits' lead to 72-68 after the third. The import had missed the last two games Vancouver had lost as he went through workouts south of the border with NBA clubs, and it didn’t take long for him to remind the 4,984 in attendance what he was capable of, as his six threes in the game put him up to first in the CEBL for total triples (40) this season. The Bandits didn’t slow down from there as they opened the fourth on a 10-2 run, carving out an 11-point lead at the start of Target Time on the heels of Creek’s second of three triples on the night. And while the Rattlers did go blow-for-blow with the Bandits once the clocks were stopped, they needed more to overcome the double-digit deficit. Ultimately, a 5-0 burst thanks to another Creek make from distance and a pair of Samuel free throws — finishing 8-of-9 from the charity stripe — were enough for Vancouver to walk away with a win. It was fitting that Saskatchewan committed back-to-back turnovers just before Samuel closed out the ball game, as it was an issue that underscored their loss. In a game where the Rattlers shot better across the board aside from the free throw line, and won the rebound and assist battle, it was self-inflicted miscues that loomed large. The usually disciplined Rattlers, who commit the third-fewest turnovers on average (13.4), finished with 18 as they gave up a 23-8 edge on points off giveaways. Meanwhile, they sent the Bandits to the line for 27 free throws (plus-13), of which Vancouver nailed 22 (plus-14). “They made us second-guess ourselves,” Ejim said. “And just that simple second-guess cost us the game.” The skid snapping victory capped off the Bandits' second-annual Filipino Celebration Game , an event that included fan activations, commemorative merch and special edition jerseys. All the while, the team wore a black-stiped patch with the word “Kapwa,” which describes the Filipino experience of community and shared humanity, to honour the lives tragically lost a the Lapu-Lapu Day Festival on April. 26. “It’s the sixth man that people don’t really notice sometimes,” Creek said of the raucous sellout crowd. “All of a sudden, the momentum is in your favour … there’s a different effect. That’s what basketball is all about.” Box Score https://www.cebl.ca/game?id=2600621 Up next The Bandits stay put in Vancouver, continuing a three-game homestand when they return to action on Tuesday to host the 7-5 Scarborough Shooting Stars. Meanwhile, the Rattlers head back to Saskatchewan for their next three games, starting with a matchup against the 5-5 Montreal Alliance on Thursday. Next CEBL action Sunday’s double-header slate opens with an Eastern Conference matinee matchup between the defending champion Niagara River Lions and host Brampton Honey Badgers at 2 p.m. ET. After that, the Edmonton Stingers welcome the Scarborough Shooting Stars out west for a 6 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. local tip-off. For the full 2025 CEBL schedule and up-to-date results, please visit cebl.ca/games . - CEBL -

For the third time in as many games, Javonte Smart showed exactly what he’s capable of doing on the basketball court. The former member of the Miami Heat made his home debut for the Ottawa BlackJacks (5-6) and gave the crowd something to cheer for, scoring 31 points to lead the team to a 90-77 victory over the Montreal Alliance (5-5). “I just let my work speak,” said Smart, who has combined for 86 points over his first three games with the club. “I’ve been working and I get the opportunity to show my game, and that’s what I’ve been doing: just showing what I can do. They brought me in with welcome arms. Nobody had an attitude, and we all joined together and we’re getting wins. I think winning solves everything, there’s no complaining. I think if we continue to win, everything will go smooth.” “I think everyone can see the impact he has,” BlackJacks head coach Dave DeAveiro said of his new star player. “Sometimes towards the end he gets a little tired because he’s playing a lot of minutes, and I think he’s still learning and trusting his teammates. But as he learns to trust his teammates a little more, I think he’ll grow and you’ll see an even better Javonte.” It was the away team that started off strong, dominating the paint to take an early 8-0 lead. Some clutch three-pointers from the BlackJacks would help close the gap, but the Alliance would hold on to a 28-22 advantage after the first quarter thanks to a 17-8 lead in rebounds and scoring 20 points in the paint. Ottawa would make some key adjustments during the break and begin to surmount a comeback early in the second. A pivotal 9-0 run capped by a Smart basket would give them a 41-40 lead, their first of the game, fueled by shooting 6-for-12 from beyond the arc in the first half. They kept their foot on the gas and took a 49-45 advantage into halftime and never looked back. “One of the things that team has is length,” DeAveiro said of the opposition. “They’re physical. They send four guys to the glass. We don’t play many teams that send that many guys to the glass. I think we got better as the game went along. I thought our rebounding got better. It’s just adjusting to that length and physicality. We held them to 49 points in three quarters. That’s amazing. That’s great defense. With all the missed boxouts and offensive rebounds, I felt as the game went on that we got better.” Tavian Dunn-Martin, one of the CEBL’s most dynamic players, was held to just nine points on 3-for-15 shooting from the field, though he chipped in with six rebounds and 12 assists. O.D Anosike led the Alliance with 17 points and eight rebounds, while Quincy Guerrier had 15 and Brandon Porter had 14 in his CEBL debut. “We need to give credit to Shakur (Daniel),” DeAveiro said of his teams ability to shut down the Alliance offence. “He’s out there guarding their best player, fighting through screens. He kind of sets the tone for us defensively, and you need a guy like that on your team. The last three games he’s guarded their best offensive players. It all starts with Shakur and everybody else can feed off of that. I think we’re just going to get better defensively, and soon the standard is going to be 75, because I’m greedy like that.” On top of his stellar defensive play, Daniel finished with six points and four steals. Isaih Moore had 21 points to go with eight rebounds and Zane Waterman chipped in with 12 off the bench. It was just the fourth time the BlackJacks had cracked the 90-point plateau this season. “We got to defend. I’ll keep it simple,” Guerrier said of himself and his teammates. “We have to get back to keeping teams under 90 points. I think all our losses were 89 points plus, so we have to find a way to be better defensively. It’s everybody. Everybody has to do their job. Guarding the ball is the most important thing. You don’t want them to penetrate with the ball and just kick it out. Obviously, you have to win your matchup one on one, but it’s a team effort and we have to do a better job.” It was another disappointing outcome for an Alliance team that started the season 5-0, but now finds themselves straddled with a 5-5 record. The BlackJacks, who sit immediately below the Alliance in the CEBL standings, have found themselves on the opposite trajectory, winning three straight and improving to 5-6. The teams play twice more this season. Box Score https://www.cebl.ca/game?id=2600620 Up next for both teams The Ottawa BlackJacks will celebrate Canada Day by welcoming the Winnipeg Sea Bears to TD Place for their second and final meeting of the season. The Montreal Alliance continue their three-game road trip with a Canada Day game against the Edmonton Stingers. Next CEBL action The Niagara River Lions head to Brampton for the second of four meetings between the quads this season, streaming live on CEBL+, TSN+ and NLSE. For the full 2025 CEBL schedule and up-to-date results, please visit cebl.ca/games . - CEBL -

The Scarborough Shooting Stars of the Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL) announced Friday that they have re-signed forward Kalif Young. The 6-foot-9 forward averaged 12.6 points, 7.1 rebounds, and 1.9 assists in 27.8 minutes across 43 games this past season with CSU Oradea in the Romanian League. Young also made appearances in the Romania Cup, FIBA Europe Cup, and Basketball Champions League. He recorded eight double-doubles and scored a season-high 20 points in a March 31 win over Brasov. Young's season stats included 546 points, 426 rebounds, 89 assists, 47 steals, and 38 blocks. The Providence College alum completed his collegiate career with averages of 4.0 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 16.3 minutes per game across 131 games. In his senior year (2019-20), he averaged 5.0 points and 4.9 rebounds while recording several double-digit scoring and rebounding performances. Young previously played for the Scarborough Shooting Stars during the 2023-2024 season, contributing to their CEBL Championship victory with averages of 8.0 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 2.2 assists in 26 minutes per game. Kalif joins recent signee NC State standout Terquavion Smith as the Shooting Stars continue their strong start to the 2025 season. The team currently holds a 7-5 record and secured a road victory last night against Winnipeg with a final score of 103-93. Their next game is tomorrow, June 29, on the road against the Edmonton Stingers. The Shooting Stars are led by the dynamic trio of Donovan Williams, Cat Barber, and Terquavion Smith. For more information on the team, tickets, and schedule, visit scarboroughshootingstars.ca . ###

The Scarborough Shooting Stars’ roster is starting to take shape and they appear ready to make some noise. Donovan Williams' return from a four-game absence proved momentous, as the CEBL’s leading scorer put up 30 points to lead the Shooting Stars (7-5) to a 103-93 win over the Winnipeg Sea Bears (5-7) on Friday. While it wasn’t quite a repeat of Scarborough’s dominant showing as last Sunday, a 32-point win against the defending champion Niagara River Lions, the victory did mark back-to-back games setting season-highs in scoring for the Shooting Stars, as they’re now just 0.5 games behind first place in the Eastern Conference. Williams entered the road game averaging a league-best 25.5 points per game (among qualified players) and only increased that lead atop the leaderboard after his game-high 30 points on 11-of-18 shooting to go with six rebounds and four assists. “They made a big run, but we weathered the storm,” Williams said post-game. “We hit a little adversity, but we did all the things we needed to do to win the game.” Right behind him, however, was Terquavion Smith, who finished with 28 points, going 7-for-10 from the free throw line while adding five rebounds and five assists. A late addition to the Shooting Stars, the import is averaging 26.8 points through four games. David Walker’s 12 points and Joirdon Nicholas’s 13 off the bench rounded out Scarborough’s double-digit scoring efforts. “That’s a team win, a gritty road win,” Shooting Stars head coach Mike De Giorgio said after the win. “They hit us back and we just responded. Kudos to our guys, they really locked in.” On the other side, Simi Shittu led the way with 25 points on 9-of-13 shooting, five rebounds and three blocks. Jalen Harris and Tevian Jones also chipped identical lines of 21 points and three assists. “We fought towards the end, (but) it kind of got away from us in the second quarter,” Harris said after Winnipeg’s second straight loss directly after a four-game win streak. “We’ve got to figure it out before we get back for the next one.” Although the outcome resulted in a second consecutive double-digit victory for the Shooting Stars, it wasn’t without its intrigue. Scarborough appeared to be headed towards another emphatic win when it had built a 21-point edge in the first half, thanks to a 14-0 run in the second quarter and withstood a late 11-3 push by Winnipeg to still lead 58-46 at halftime. That lead was largely built thanks to some hot early shooting, going 6-for-10 from distance in the opening frame, and some opportunistic defence as the Shooting Stars forced eight Sea Bears turnovers in the first half. Quite the uncharacteristic showing from Winnipeg considering it averaged just 13.3 per game entering the night, second-fewest in the CEBL. The Sea Bears cleaned things up coming out of the break, however, only giving it away four times the rest of the way, even winning the turnover battle 17-12 by the final buzzer. “It’s all about effort,” Shittu said post-game. “When teams are making runs like that, it’s all about effort, really … we got a lot of talent, guys who can play. It’s just about being connected.” It was that disciplined second half that helped Winnipeg storm back, cutting what was a 14-point halftime deficit as low as five points in the third before trailing 78-70 after 30 minutes. The Sea Bears also made things easier by upping the rim pressure and getting to the line, scoring without burning clock as they finished plus-15 on free throw attempts and went 28-of-37 from the charity stripe. From there, the Sea Bears did give it one last push, cutting down to nine in Target Score Time what was up to a 15-point deficit early in the fourth, but they couldn’t inch any closer as the Shooting Stars duo of Williams and Smith got to work. The pair of imports scored all of Scarborough’s points with the clock stopped, the first four by Williams before Smith’s game-winning layup capped off five straight points from him. Underscoring the victory was the Shooting Stars' dominance on the glass, finishing plus-13 (43-30), with their 14 offensive rebounds good enough to earn a 17-12 edge on second chance points and a plus-10 edge on paint points (54-44). Fronting that effort for Scarborough was Khalil Miller’s 14 rebounds, which tied a single-game franchise record. Box Score https://www.cebl.ca/game?id=2600619 Up next The Shooting Stars stay on the road, visiting the Edmonton Stingers on Sunday for the second leg of a three-game road trip. Meanwhile, the Sea Bears depart from Winnipeg to start a three-game road trip of their own, starting by visiting the Ottawa BlackJacks on Tuesday. Next CEBL action The CEBL resumes on Saturday with an Eastern Conference class between the 5-4 Montreal Alliance and 4-6 Ottawa BlackJacks in the nation’s capital. For the full 2025 CEBL schedule and up-to-date results, please visit cebl.ca/games . - CEBL -