Basseterre, St. Kitts — Defending champions in the Harris Basketball League, Strivers Basketball Club, sent out an early warning that they intend to retain the title in 2015 when in the second game played on Saturday October 10th they beat Ballaholics 63-55.
When the league opened on the refurbished Molineux hard courts, the first game was between Inner City Ballers and Ottleys. Despite producing a sensational dunk shot, courtesy of Joshio ‘Biggie’ Morton, Ottleys went down 56-62.
The game was tight as Inner City Ballers led by a single point 22-21 at the end of the first quarter, and 36-31 at half time. They lost ground at the end the third quarter as the score stood at 43-45, but recovered to win the game at the end of the fourth quarter, 62-56.
The first two games on Saturday evening were watched by among others, Prime Minister and perennial league sponsor, the Hon Dr Timothy Harris, veteran basketball administrator Mr James ‘Barman’ Hanley, and a representative of one of the new sponsors Koi Resorts | Residences, Mr Naeem John.
Top scores for game one for Inner City Ballers: Delvin Marshall (19 points, 7 defensive rebounds, two offensive rebounds, two assists, and one block), Sylvester Whyte (14 points, 6 defensive rebounds, two offensive rebounds, and one block), and Ansel Revan (13 points and four assists).
For Ottleys: Joshio ‘Biggie’ Morton (21 points – including a dunk shot, 9 defensive rebounds, six offensive rebounds, and three blocks), Kevin Saunders (17 points, five defensive rebounds, three offensive rebounds, and two assists), and Denzil Saunders (10 points, seven defensive rebounds, and four offensive rebounds).
Strivers, a team which has in its line-up last year’s MVP Nashorn Maynard had a lucky escape as they narrowly led in the first quarter 16-14 and second quarter 28-27 and were surprisingly held 40-40 at the end of third quarter. They however put experience into play and at the end of the fourth quarter they led comfortably at 63-55.
Top scores recorded in the second game of the evening for Strivers: Clayton Powell (22 points, two defensive rebounds, two offensive rebounds and two assists), Jarvid Percival (13 points, three offensive rebounds, and four assists), and Nashorn Maynard (11 points, six defensive rebounds, five offensive rebounds, and two blocks).
Game three was played on Monday October 12th, where Fair Share downed Mantab 70-61 at the end of the fourth quarter. Fair Share controlled the game leading 17-16 at the end of the first quarter, 37-32 at the end of the second quarter, and 50-47 at the end of the third quarter.
Top scores were recorded for Fair Share by: George Gaton (24 points, five defensive rebounds, four offensive rebounds, four assists, and two steals), Ray Liddie (23 points, three defensive rebounds, and two offensive rebounds), and Denvor Farrell (14 points, four defensive rebounds, and two offensive rebounds).
For Mantab top scorers were: Maxwell Bass (19 points, three defensive rebounds, two offensive rebounds, four assists, and two steals), Calvin Wallace (13 points, five defensive rebounds, three offensive rebounds, and three steals), and Ervin Wattley (10 points, five defensive rebounds, six offensive rebounds, and for assists).
Game four was played Tuesday evening (October 13th) which saw Redemption Squad arrest Free Up 72-54. The game was only close in the first quarters where Free Up actually led 15-14, but the Redemption Squad quickly upturned the tables to lead 34-29 at half time, 54-48 at end of the third quarters, and then pulled off and widened the lead to a 72-54 win.
Top scorers for Redemption Squad: Livan Lee (25 points, five defensive rebounds, two offensive rebounds, one assist, and two steals), Te’Andre Chapman (14 points, and two steals), Shackell Bedford (14 points, two defensive rebounds, two offensive rebounds, three assists, and two steals), and Darius Bedford (eight points, two defensive rebounds and two offensive rebounds).
Scoring for Free Up were: Quincy Taylor (20 points, four defensive rebounds, four assists, and one steal), Alex Thomas (15 points, six defensive rebounds, two offensive rebounds, one assist, and one block), and Bertrum (14 points, four defensive rebounds, two offensive rebounds, and one steal).
The league continues Wednesday (October 14th) evening with a game between Tabernacle and Inner City Ballers, on Thursday evening between Ottleys and Ballaholics, while there will be two games on Saturday (October 17th), the first between Strivers and Ottleys at 7:00 p.m., and the second between Last Dance and Free Up at 8:30 p.m.