Watchers win in Pine

It was not the exciting finish that the fans were looking for, but the curtain came down on the Patrick/ Maynard Pinelands Basketball competition with the Watchers taking home the inaugural crown after a 35-27 victory over Quiet Storm.

A game-high 15 points from Ramon Simmons on the Pinelands court earlier this week was not enough to lift Quiet Storm over the Watchers. Jeremy Gill of the Watchers was the player of the finals with 14 points in the game, and the award was thoroughly deserved. He guided the team to the win with some good play making, but it was the overall composure of the Watchers which gave them the crown.

At the end of the first half, Watchers were up 18-15, even with the Akeem Marshall and Simmons on the opposing side combining for all the Storm’s points with 8 and 7 respectively. Then in the second half some of the calls did not go the way that Quiet Storm’s players would have liked and the team lost focus. That was all that Gill needed to pull away and he piled on 10 points in the second half.

The game was over by the last two minutes and by the dying seconds, there was not much to do but dribble out the clock and take the title, the trophy and the $1 500 top prize. Quiet Storm earned themselves $750 for the runner up.

Before the final was an exciting third place game between Future Pinelands and Princess Royal Stars. The youngsters, namely Deroni Hurley and Rasheed Maynard, made some plays which left their defenders grabbing for support but coming up empty. The young side showed that they are indeed the future of Pinelands basketball club and led at the half 20-15.

The second half was a battle as Princess Royal started to come back with huge plays from Granville Gittens. He attempted to carry his team on his back, scoring 12 of his side’s 21 points in the second half. Down one, 35-34, with 15 seconds to go, Stars pushed the ball up the court and a baseline jumper was long but Future Pinelands forgot to box out and an easy put back put Stars up one, 35-36, with 9 seconds to play. The ball was inbounded and the youngsters flew down the court with the defence on their heels, but somehow the ball ended up in Derion Hurley’s hands and with a quick fake to his left, he rose up for the shot over the outstretched hands of the Stars. His shot went in with one second on the clock and he was fouled on the play. At the free-throw line he missed the shot purposely and the whistle sounded before Stars could gather the rebound, giving his team the win, 37-36, and third place’s reward of $500.

Gill was the Player of the Finals while Kiserian Adams of Future Pinelands was the Player of the Tournament. All in all it was a good out of season competition which brought out some of the best players in the island for some fun on the court. Despite the rain delays, the coordinators and the fans stuck with it and were not disappointed in the end.
(AS)