The defending champs look to maintain their wins and keep the championship title at home
The sixth season of the CEBL (Canadian Elite Basketball League) kicked off in May, bringing back the much-anticipated high-level basketball in Canada. In the last six years, the CEBL has grown tremendously in popularity, talent, and opportunities with celebrities attending games and being watched in Canada and internationally.
A well-known team in the CEBL is the Scarborough Shooting Stars (9-7), who went into this season as the reigning champions, after winning the 2023 CEBL championship. The Shooting Stars started their season with a loss to the Winnipeg Sea Bears, followed by another loss to the Vancouver Bandits, however, by game three the team showed why they are the defending champions, winning their next three games, one of those games being a win over their GTA rivals the Brampton Honey Badgers.
Currently, with only four games left to play, the Shooting Stars are second in the Eastern Conference standings behind the Niagara River Lions, hoping to maintain and secure a playoff spot as they try to get back to Championship weekend. The Montreal Alliance automatically earn a spot at the finals weekend as the host team, meanwhile the Shooting Stars will take on the Ottawa BlackJacks and Brampton, both teams currently ranked lower than Scarborough in the standings.
This year’s Shooting Stars squad has an array of talent, the likes of Cat Barber, Kadre Gray, and Devoe Joseph to name a few top players. The team went through and is still facing many changes and adjustments with Barber missing the first few games, due to finishing his commitments overseas, Donovan Williams leaving to play in the NBA Summer League for the San Antonio Spurs and Shamar Givance now playing for the BlackJacks. However, none of these seemed to slow down the Shoot Stars as they continue to hold one of the top spots in the rankings.
Highlights so far for the team included their ring night, which was on June 21 at home at the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre, where the 2023 team received their championship rings. Williams had a dominant game against the Saskatchewan Rattlers where he scored 27 points including a poster dunk that stole that show. Gray who was the 2023 Canadian player of the year, who always makes an impact when he steps on the court, was able to reach another milestone by being the first player in CEBL history to reach 300 career assists. Barber, one of the leading scorers for the team, known for his speed and major ability to hoop, was able to reach a milestone as he became the second player in CEBL history to score 1,000 regular season points. He also recently set a CEBL record by scoring 24 straight points in a game against the Edmonton Stingers where he was able to bring his team to a 103-92 win. Cory Joseph was spotted at a few CEBL games supporting his older brother Devoe who impacts the game consistently with his ability to shoot threes.
Beyond basketball, the Shooting Stars are known for their work and collaboration in the community, including their Shoot for the Stars Youth Basketball Camp which runs from July 15-19 at the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre from 9 AM-4 PM. Their July 13th game against the Edmonton Stingers was the “ Love, Scarborough” game which supported Scarborough hospitals. The Shooting Stars were able to donate $15,000 through proceeds from ticket sales. On Sunday, July 21st the Shooting Stars collab with Foot Locker where they will reveal an exclusive drop from 2-5 PM. The OVO X Scarborough Shooting Stars collection dropped June 13, only in Canada with exclusive merchandise. The entire Shooting Stars team led by owners Sam Ibrahim and Nicholas Carino (OVO Niko) have not only developed a great team, but have made an impact on the community beyond basketball.
The Shooting Stars have four regular season games left, and are coming off a big 91-71 home win Tuesday on Fan Appreciation Night against the Alliance.. They hope to keep their momentum going and get a few more wins. The defending champs look to hold onto their title, keeping it in the city of Scarborough as many times as they can, going from “one time for the ends” to “many more times”.
You can keep up with the Scarborough Shooting Stars on Instagram at @scarboroughshootingstars and www.scarboroughshootingstars.ca. Tickets can be purchased on their website as well as on Ticketmaster. You can keep up with all the league’s teams at cebl.ca and watch all games live on the CEBL app and as always you can keep up with the Shooting Stars and all things basketball here at onpointbasketball.com or on Instagram at @onpointbasketball.
