Cougars bounce out with no bite

THE Cougars once again exited the Barbados Amateur Basketball Association First Division competition before the finals stage, falling short of the talk and expectations.

 

The Cougars were defeated at the semi-final stage by the Pan American International Insurance Warrens Sports Club in the First Division Knock-out competition. They did not even reach that stage in the league playoffs as the Executive Air Dover Chargers took them down 2-0 in Game 2 of the quarter-finals at the Barbados Community College.

 

Cougars actually started the fightback to even the series well when they took the first quarter 16-14 to begin the game. The second quarter was a blowout unfortunately, with Dover putting on a shooting clinic for the fans. Dover hit five shots from beyond the arc, four of them were from the hand of Godfrey Leacock, who scored a sizzling 20 points for the evening. In all Dover hit 11 long range shots, which is amongst the best shooting performances from beyond the arc for the season of any team in the league. Cougars were held to only five points and found themselves down more than 21, 42-21.

 

Cougars were about to be kicked out of the playoffs and showed the heart needed to resist the charge of Dover. Stevenson Callender started the run with two 3’s as he went on to score 10 points in the third. He got good support from Shawn Gaskin, who scored eight points in the paint and Adrian Catlyn who scored seven of his nine points in the third. The momentum of the game swung hugely back into 

the favour of Cougars as they erased the majority of the 21-point lead in the period, cutting it to five (53-48).

 

The last quarter of the Cougars season was a good effort, but Dover would not be denied as they took care of the opposition to advance to the semi-finals playing later this week. They extended their advantage to 10 by the final whistle to end the Cougars’ effort for this year. Seon Hillman had a team-high 23 points in the game, but it was Stevenson Callender of the Cougars who took the game-high honors with 24 points in a losing effort. Ryan Lewis and Jason Bowen for Dover put up 17 and 14 points respectively, while Cougars’ Gaskin finished with 18. (AS)