Fantastic Foundation ends title drought

Christ Church Foundation School has finally climbed to the top of the ladder to claim their place as champions of the Massy United Insurance Senior Boys’ Basketball Competition.

Playing Saturday at the Barbados Community College Gym, the school whose mission statement promotes excellence was indeed most excellent on the court. Playing as a team with respect for the referees, all while giving all they could on the court was what Foundation displayed as they beat Harrison College A 70-58, to claim the top spot.

Foundation led from the very beginning of the campaign. The big man from the Christ Church school, Valdez Brathwaite, was having the start of his basketball career. Not only was he owning the offensive glass, but he was dominating the paint. Brathwaite scored nine of his team’s 17 first quarter points to help them go in to the second quarter up four.

Harrison College tried to keep pace on the shoulders of their star player Christian Holder. He was even more effective than Brathwaite, scoring all 13 of his team’s first quarter total.

Joniton Fowler started the second period of the game hot for College with two jumpers from the wings. Christopher Holder followed suit and added six points straight for HC, but Foundation had an answer for that. When College got within two points, 23-21, the two guards from Foundation – Dominic Jervis and Shaquan Carrington – made light work of the defence to score back-to- back lay-ups in the lane. Paul Doughty then smoked a jumper from the right-hand side, and just like that College found themselves chasing a moving target. They recovered slightly and were able to go into half-time down by one basket, 29-26.

Carrington and Jervis take over
The second half started differently for Foundation’s Brathwaite as he was only able to stay on the floor for 12 seconds after getting a quick foul. He had done enough however. His first quarter points contribution gave his team the foundation they needed to build on.

His two team-mates, Carrington and Jervis, stood tall and took over the game. The two worked in tandem to find their players or each other and started to pour on the points. Carrington scored 18 of his game-high 25 points in the second half, including back-to-back treys to start the fourth.

College was never able to recover and get close to their opponents. This was mostly due to the great defensive effort by Foundation, which did not allow Christian Holder to see much of the ball or let them get into a rhythm offensively.

The third quarter ended 43-36, but good shooting down the stretch by Foundation and poor free throw shooting by Harrison kept stretching the lead till time ran out on the College effort, and Foundation had reached the end of its long title hopes journey.

Carrington’s 25 points and leadership on the court earned him the Finals MVP honours. Khamal Boyce finished with 14 points while Jervis and Brathwaite had 11 apiece. For College, Holder and Fowler had 23 and 10 respectively in a losing effort.

Congratulations goes out to the Foundation School’s basketball team on their championship triumph.