Rough weekend for local Premier basketball
In the six Barbados Amateur Basketball Association Premier League games played this weekend at the Barbados Community College, only one was lost by a single digit margin.
Saturday night saw the best of the six match-ups with the Burger King Clapham Bulls defeating Orange 3 Pinelands by 6, 75-69 and the Barbados Hilton Resort Warriors taking down the Pan American International Insurance WSC, 99-86. Sunday, on the other hand, was a case of four straight assaults on the court.
The Urban Vybz St. John’s Sonics made light work of the Next Generation Combined Schools Tridents by 29 points. The 85-56 victory barely caused the Sonics to stretch their legs as they led from the first whistle to the last. As each quarter ended the lead grew from 4 25-21 to 22 (50-28) to 35 (72-37) at the end of the third. A slight run in the final quarter cut the lead to 29, but it made little difference in the final score. Akeem Marsh of the Sonics top-scored with 19, while Dwayne Kellman added 18 points and 11 rebounds.
Next up for slaughter were the newly promoted Hawks as they met with the Barbados Lumber Company Lakers. Anyone who had watched the first game and hoped for a more competitive second game were in for trouble. The Lakers took apart the Hawks on their way to a 100-65 victory. It would be a trend that would follow on for the rest of the evening. The Lakers used their whole squad against the Hawks and the bench players played well to contribute 44 points to the cause. Keefe Birkett and Jimal Singh scored a team high of 18 points apiece, while Jae Harris and Ormond Haynes had 16 each. Hawks Captain, Tremaine Shaw finished with 20 points and Rommel Bynoe had 17.
The third team on the evening’s menu was the Barbados Hilton Resort Warriors. They were the main course for the Station Hill Cavaliers who fell just three shy of 100 points to win the game 97-70. The Warriors looked out of sorts against the faster and more fluid Cavaliers with turnovers being a major issue for the side. The team finished with 31 turnovers, almost double that of Station Hill which the opponents were able to convert into 31 points at the other end. Darren Hunte and Kerry Celestine both scored 20 points for the Cavs, while Justin Pile shot well for the Warriors to take the game high honours with 27.
The Orange 3 Pinelands were the last to sup at the BCC table on Sunday when they took down the Pan American International Insurance WSC 106-62. With the Warrens side not as experienced and in many cases undersized, the result was expected.
Hopefully in future games to come, there will not be another schedule or set of results with deficits so great. (AS)