Warriors climb First Division table

THE Barbados Hilton Resort Warriors have steadily climbed their way up the Barbados Amateur Basketball First Division table to take the No.2 spot in the southern zone.

 

The Warriors stand on 11 points, one point behind the unbeaten Pan American International Insurance Warrens Sports Club. With a record of five wins and one loss, the Warriors squad is made up of a combination of young up-and-coming talent and veteran former Premier Division talent. Veterans like Terry Pilgrim and Oran Skeete, who are a little past their prime, have stepped down to the lower division to support the youngsters coming up in the club.

 

In their latest triumph, the Garrison-based team defeated the previously undefeated Police Sports Club who were also working their way up the table and steamrolling teams. The two teams have four to five players each who are over 6’3” and play a physical style of basketball. Police got off to a good start with their guards taking the game and outrunning the older Warriors team. Stephan Taylor and Pierre Gorhm could not keep up with the pace of Police alone and the older players were still getting the body fully warm.

 

As a result of the first quarter run, the Warriors found themselves down 15-23, an eight-point deficit at the start of the second. They were able to stem the tide of points in this period of the game, at least the running game which hurt them in the first quarter. But Police were persistent and went to the next strategy of pounding the ball into the paint. It worked well and they were able to not only keep the lead but extend it to 12 points at the half, 41-29.

 

The second half was all the Warriors. The defence and offence started to click as they put in the work to cut down the lead. Samuel Boyce and Shane Ward entered the party and started to knock down shots. Ward did not score in the first half of the game, but found his range in the second. He scored ten points to help cut the lead, but it was the efforts of Boyce which took Warriors to the final seconds of the game with the scored tied at 69. With the seconds running down, Boyce hit a game-winning 3-pointer to take the Warriors over the line in a stunning second half come-back.

 

Boyce finished with 14 points on the night and Ward had 10 in good support in the second half. Oran Skeete was lethal from mid-range and finished with a team-high 15 points while Pierre Gorhm and Akins Pratts had 8 and 7 respectively. (AS)