BASSETERRE, St. Kitts (November 13, 2015) -- It was a black Thursday (November 12) for defending champions Strivers Basketball Club in the on-going and highly competitive Harris Basketball League taking place at the newly refurbished Molineux hard court.
It was the one night they wished for two things to happen.
First they wished rain would fall and scuttle the game between them and Fair Share Basketball Club, and secondly if their ace player Nashorn Maynard who is away as in ‘inna away’ (with apologies to Sugar Bowl) was on the court to stop the marauding Fair Share players aggressively chasing for their fair share in this Harris Basketball League.
Not a thing happened and Fair Share, who also had their fair share of misfortunes as they did not have the services of the evergreen Shawn ‘Shaba’ Forbes, trounced them 82-67. This brought a rude and excruciating end to the defending champions’ unbeaten run in a game that was watched by a fair crowd - more spectators would have turned up were it not for fear of skies opening up as it has been happening on a regular basis.
The game started on a fast pace, with Strivers’ player Jamo Guishard missing the ring in his first attempt. Danger-man on the Fair Share team George Gaton did considerable damage to the champions including sinking in three-pointers at will.
Fair Share led comfortably 21-15 at end of first quarter, and 44-29 at half time. However, Strivers tried to reduce the deficit with Clayton Powell taking the honours making the score-line 63-53 at the end of the third quarter in favour of Fair Share, but was not good enough for them to upset the reenergised Fair Share who took the game at 81-77.
Spectators would cheer loudly as Games Commissioner, Karla Carty, would hoist in the air and display the electronic scoreboard for all to see the scores at the end of each quarter.
For Fair Share, George Gaton was the top scorer with 26 points, five defensive rebounds, five assists, and two steals. Others were Ray Liddie (20 points, two defensive rebounds, three offensive rebounds, and two steals), and Denvor Farrell (20 points, ten defensive rebounds, seven offensive rebounds, and two blocks).
Clayton Powell was the leading scorer for the losing team, with 22 points, three defensive rebounds, three offensive rebounds, two assists, and two steals. Others were Karis Douglas (18 points, two defensive rebounds, three offensive rebounds, and three assists), and Jarvid Percival (12 points, four defensive rebounds, five offensive rebounds, two assists, and two steals).
In the second game of the evening, Redemption Squad, which is made up of young players, increased their chances of finishing the preliminary round in a respectable position when they trounced a hapless Ottleys Ballers 82-67, having led all the way 20-13 at the end of first quarter, 45-31 and the end of half time, and 65-49 at the end of the third quarter.
Livan Lee of the winning Redemption Squad was the undisputed top player with a massive 32 points, eight defensive rebounds, 11 offensive rebounds, two steals, and five blocks. Supporting him were the Bedford brothers, Shackeil and Darius.
Shackeil returned 17 points, thee defensive rebounds, four offensive rebounds, five assists, and two steals, while Darius had 13 points, three defensive rebounds, two assists, and two steals.
Doing duty for Ottleys Ballers were Corey Ceasar (18 points, three defensive rebounds, five offensive rebounds, and three steals), Joshio Morton (16 points, seven defensive rebounds, three offensive rebounds, and three blocks), Denzil Saunders (13 points, four offensive rebounds, and three steals), Leandro Mills (11 points, four defensive rebounds, three offensive rebounds, and three steals), and Quintos Williams (9 points, three defensive rebounds, and two offensive rebounds).
In earlier games, Strivers narrowly beat Redemption Squad 56-54 on Thursday Oct 29; Ballaholics also narrowly beat Fair Share 89-87 on Sunday Nov 8: Strivers beat Mantab 86-51 on Tuesday November 10: Redemption Squad beat Fair Share 90-71 on Tuesday November 10; Free Up beat Inner City Ballers 84-67 on Wednesday November 11; and Mantab beat Ballaholics 57-53 on Wednesday November 11.
Remaining schedule has three games carded for Saturday. First game will be between Redemption Squad and Mantab; second one will be a continuation of the game between Ottleys and Ballaholic; while the third game will be between Strivers and Free Up. On Sunday Redemption Squad will face Free up.
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