Scarborough gets sweet taste of vengeance at Verdun

Revenge is the sweetest joy for Scarborough. They lost to Montreal by 20 points at Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre last week, but then beat them by 28 points on Wednesday night at Verdun Auditorium. 101-73 was the final score.

The Scarborough Shooting Stars now sit above .500 with a 5-4 record. Montreal (4-3) has now lost three straight games, and have not won a game since it defeated Scarborough. They recently came back from a 1-2 road trip.

“He just opened up the heart of Montreal!” said play-by-play commentator Moe Khan emphatically as Scarborough’s Cat Barber took Montreal’s point-of-attack defender Kevin Osawe off the dribble and nobody could contest his lay-up. Malcolm Duviver couldn’t tag as he had to keep a close eye on Scarborough’s Terquavion Smith, who had his debut game today. Montreal’s Anthony Walker stayed home, too far deep into the restricted area, and that bucket pushed the lead to 19 points.

Barber’s third quarter lay-up was the beginning of the end as the lead ballooned to 30 points in the final frame.

Montreal went scoreless in the last four minutes and 20 seconds of the third quarter. That’s when Scarborough started its open heart surgical procedure, seeing contributions from bench player Khalil Miller.

“That was a team win. Everybody contributed offensively and defensively,” Scarborough head coach Mike De Giorgio said. “When you can put something like that, especially on the road, you gotta feel proud of that.”

In the third, Miller, who had 14 points on six-for-nine shooting, hit a mid-range jumper, followed by Cat Barber’s three-pointer, which pushed the lead up to eight. Miller scoring later on baseline cut pushed the lead up to 12 points. On the defensive end, he had a huge block as a backline help defender, and then hit a corner three to make it a 15-point game.

De Giorgio showed clairvoyance as he uttered these words at halftime. “We gotta weather our own runs and sustain them for as long as we can,” he said. “So we gotta keep our energy up nice and high.” Scarborough’s run in the second half of the third quarter propelled them to a huge victory.

Joirdon Nicholas was the fifth Shooting Star to score in double digits (11 points on a perfect five-for-five shooting and six boards). Manny Diressa hit two triples – he made Tavian Dunn-Martin pay for going under on the screen, and his second one pushed the lead to 26 after Dunn-Martin had a hard time chasing him around the screen.

The tripartite of Barber, Hason Ward, and Smith was the centrepiece of Scarborough’s win. Barber and Ward finished with a double-double; Barber with 12 points and 11 assists, and Ward with 16 points and 10 boards. Smith led all scorers with 26 points.

While the final score showed a lopsided performance, Montreal gave its 2,500-plus fans an entertaining first half with some highlight reel plays at the start of the third quarter.

Despite a slow first half for Dunn-Martin, he showed why he’s Tavian Doesn’t Miss. He had the night’s most electrifying play – blazing into the lane, spinning like a pirouette, and scoring to inch within three points. He later crossed over Danilo Djuricic and finished a right-handed lay-up on the left side of the bucket to inch within three again. Quincy Guerrier was a reliable presence (game total 14 points and six boards), and had a big chase down block while Dunn-Martin was left to guard 3-on-1. But Dunn-Martin’s highlight plays were a flash in the pan, and the momentum quickly fizzled out.

Montreal spent the second quarter catching up after letting their lead slide. They went on a 9-0 run, and at halftime, the game was near parity. However, once they got punched in the mouth in Scarborough's biggest run of the game, Montreal was getting a taste of what it gave Scarborough last week.