Harrison College claim U-16 double crown

Harrison College have claimed the League crown in the Under 16 School League Co-operators General Insurance, National Sports Council Junior Schools’ Basketball Competition.

 

In convincing fashion at the Barbados Community College, the College boys took the Graydon Sealy team to town in the 61-46 league title victory. It was their second title win in a span of two days as they had already captured the Knockout crown the Thursday before. 

 

Coach Dario McCollin was ecstatic about the double title win and said that it was good to see that hard work does pay off. He also lauded his boys for their commitment to the programme which runs all year round. The Harrison College basketball programme starts in the summer, continues through the first and second term and then finally into the third term in which the season is played. 

 

McCollin also encouraged young people to take up a sport or hobby and use the Harrison College team as an example of what rewards could be had. 

 

The Finals’ Most Valuable Player honours went to College in the form of Akobi Forde.

 

The game was one sided at best with glimpses of skill and heart showed by a few of the Graydon Sealy players. College started off with a jumper from the MVP Akobi Forde and never looked back. The first quarter ended 22-12 with Forde shooting the rock well and with good accuracy, scoring eight of his team high 12 points in that period of the game. 

 

Graydon Sealy started back where they left off in the first meeting of the two teams where they attacked the hoop to score or draw the foul. College had made the adjustment and were playing more disciplined, which meant that Graydon Sealy were not able to draw the fouls. Added to that, they were also missing their shot attempts.

 

The second half started with the score at 35-17 and Simeon Maynard on the charge. Maynard had played an outstanding overtime period in the Knockout Final earlier in the week and his confidence was even higher. He sank a three from the wing to start the half for HC and the crowd went wild. 

 

Maynard was one of the smallest on the court physically, but one of the biggest in terms of effort. 

 

Jaiden Walker is another major player for Harrison College and showed his capabilities on the day throughout the whole game. There was one play that stood out for Walker, which was grabbing a defensive rebound and then dribbling full court through the lagging defence and finishing strong at the basket. Once again Walker left the fans questioning his age as his skill on the court was of an older boy.

 

The third quarter ended with Graydon Sealy down 19 (50-31) with nothing to play for but pride. By the time the clock reached 5:40 to go in the game, Coach McCollin cleared his bench to give some of his players some court time in what he was expecting to be a victory.  

 

Graydon Sealy had all but conceded defeat, but Christopher Harewood still was not giving up and attacking the rim when he could. 

 

In the end, however, a bank shot, buzzer beater at the final whistle of the game by Kyron Alexander sealed the deal and poured salt in the Graydon Sealy wounds.

 

Walker and Forde both scored 12 in a dominating effort and they had good support from Maynard with 9 points, Ajani Searles with 8, and Kofi Inniss with 6. 

 

The Graydon Sealy guard pair of Brandon Ruck and Makahya combined for 21 with Ruck scoring the game high 14 points while Shaw added 7. Renaldo Simmons also contributed 9 points to the game.