Shooting Stars Offensive Explosion Defeats Edmonton
In his first game back, Terquavion Smith drops 29 points to move Scarborough to 8-0 at home
By Eli Silverstone
The Scarborough Shooting Stars defeated the Edmonton Stingers 107-97 on Thursday night at the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre, moving to a league best 15-3 and 8-0 at home on the season.
In his return back to Scarborough, guard Terquavion (Terq) Smith had a fantastic debut. Posting 29 points to go along with 5 assists on 46% shooting. Smith averaged 22.6 PPG last season for Scarborough, the fifth best mark in the CEBL and adds onto an already loaded Shooting Star offense.
“The boys were real welcoming. I just salute them for allowing me to be myself and that made me feel good out the gate,” said Smith.
Terq’s comfort allowed the Shooting Stars to go on an 18-2 run to kick off the second quarter and give Scarborough a 60-36 lead in the second quarter. Edmonton responded and the Shooting Stars lead dipped to 64-51 going into half. Considering this was the first game since Scarborough blew a second quarter 36-18 lead to Niagara, there was some tension on Scarborough’s sideline.
“Defensively the lineups are changing [due to all the player additions] and offensively having different actions to let Javan (Johnson), Myles (Powell) and Terq play together. That’ll help us a lot,” said head coach Tyrell Vernon.
Scarborough produced a solid second half with the help of forward Anthony Walker who finished the game with 10 points, six rebounds, three blocks and the Target Score winner. Walker has produced 10 steals and five blocks over his last five games.
With bigs Charles Bediako and Akoi Yuot still at NBA Summer League, Khalil Miller stepped up again for Scarborough, posting 14 points and nine rebounds.
Next up: Scarborough takes on Ottawa on Saturday July 18 at the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre. Tip off is set for 7 pm