June 16, 2024
Montreal defeat first place Scarborough Shooting Stars, snapping their five game win streak
The defending CEBL champions, the Scarborough Shooting Stars, who once again this season are sat atop of the Eastern conference tables came to Montreal to take on the third place Alliance at the Verdun auditorium – a match-up that could well replay come CW24 weekend when host city Montreal play the top seeded Eastern conference team.
Montreal are coming off a drubbing at the hands of the Niagara River Lions this past Wednesday in a one-sided game where the River Lions were able to completely stifle the Alliance attack. Scarborough come in on a bit of a hot streak, having dispatched the Ottawa Blackjacks last Thursday by a score of 105 to 91. The Alliance did end that game against Niagara on a tear, and needed to bring that level of play for the full four quarters tonight to have any shot at victory.
See Also: Alliance slaughtered at home by River Lions
Early on, the two teams traded buckets with the score close throughout. Scarborough were having success sinking threes and used that to build a slight lead over the Alliance. Montreal, to their credit, kept up as best they could, relying on paint crashing plays to keep the score close.
Scarborough forced Montreal into mistakes that lead to turn-overs on multiple occasions in the first quarter and capitalized on several of them. Over and over, Montreal showed tenacity and stuck with the Shooting Stars. At the end of the first quarter, Scarborough held a single point advantage over Montreal, leading by a score of 26 to 25.
The second quarter saw Montreal make adjustments to their strategy and suddenly the shooting lanes that Scarborough were exploiting for their three-point shots dried up. While Montreal had switched up their game plan, Scarborough seemed stunned and allowed Montreal to take charge of the game. Surely, Montreal knew that Scarborough relied heavily on their three-point shots and have all season long, and had devised a plan to shut that down – and it worked.
Montreal had found a way to shut down the highest scoring offense in the league, keeping them to well below their average tally – and it had everything to do with their defense taking away field goal attempts.
The final frame started off in the worst possible way for Montréal, who blew a ten point spread and suddenly found themselves down by a point. Scarborough who were on a five game winning streak suddenly looked dangerous but Montreal’s resilience would pay off. They settled down and got back to their defensive formula that had stifled the Shooting Stars for most of the game and their offense came surging back as a result.
By the time the Target Score was set, Montreal lead by just a single point – but Scarborough again went to the three-point attempts and again were shut down. The Alliance lead the league in points from the paint and that is where they went to work, dropping buckets from in close and from the charity line.
With Montreal needing just one point to take the upset win, the ball found its way into Chris Smith’s hands, and he slammed it home to seal the win in front of the Alliance faithful. Smith had been elemental in the Target Score time, putting down five of the nine required points. More and more, Smith is beginning to dominate in the CEBL.
Read More:
>> Montreal Alliance take revenge on the Ottawa Blackjacks
>> Ottawa Blackjacks earn their first win in Montreal
>> Montreal Alliance defeat the Brampton Honey Badgers
With the win, Montreal is now just one win shy of the Scarborough Shooting Stars and the Niagara River Lions, albeit with one extra game played. Things are getting interesting in the CEBL’s Eastern conference.
The Montreal Alliance head off on a road trip next and will face the slumping Brampton Honey Badgers on Wednesday June 19th. Meanwhile, the Scarborough Shooting Stars continue their road trip and next take on the Niagara River Lions in what will be a battle of the top two in the Eastern conference.
