By Morissa Lindsay
Station Hill Cavaliers and Pinelands A won their respective matches by comfortable margins when the 2022 Co-operators General Insurance Barbados Amateur Basketball Association Club Challenge continued last night at Bay Street.
In the opening match, Pinelands A won 89-50 against Pharmaceuticals Plus Mayhill as they commanded the first three quarters 27-20, 49-30 and 66-43 on their way to victory. In the night cap encounter Cavaliers defeated Police Sports Club 71-46 (17-16, 34-24, 58-31) in a one-sided encounter. Cavaliers captain Joel Hunte with his level of experience led from the front in the scoring department with 12 points. There were also contributions from a strong support cast that included Zachary Cave netting ten points, Stephan Ottley tallied nine and Saeed Norville scored six.
Police, normally coached by ‘Suzie’ Greene, was without his services yesterday and captain Jamario Clarke with a total of nine points did his best to marshal his troops against a quality Cavaliers team. Also getting on the score sheet for Police was the lanky Jamali Holder with 14 -points as well as Daniel Durant talling six points. Police had a good start to the match but were unable to maintain the intensity against Cavaliers coached by the experienced Adrian Craigwell.
Police wasted no time scoring at tip-off compliments an assist from Clarke to Holder for a comfortable layup. Coming into the contest Police were well aware that they could not play at Cavaliers pace and therefore needed to capitalize on any chances or advantages on offer.
The intensity was high as early as the opening quarter with the Premier League side Cavaliers doing their best to ensure Police did not get an early handle or momentum on the game.
While Cavaliers were able to play a full press, Police also had to take advantage of the fact that they have Clarke, Holder and Dario Cumberbatch, three of the tallest men on the court, to defend strongly especially inside the paint.
What also allowed Cavaliers to pull away from Police was their aggression on defence which led to a number of steals. That played a crucial role in they being able to orchestrate fast breaks and finish easily at the opposite end of the court.
One of Pinelands A top scorers Kiserian Adams making an easy layup against Mayhill in the opening match yesterday.
Down by ten points at halftime, Police with clear communication issues in the second quarter needed to sort themselves out if they were to stand a chance in the third. For example the constant back and forth between Dario Cumberbatch and fellow teammate Jare Alleyne was one of Police’s downfalls in how they went about their business.
It was simply a matter of Alleyne and company knowing their roles and how to play in their respective positions. Cumberbatch in a rather harsh tone reminded Alleyne that he is the point guard and therefore needed to go for the ball and bring it whenever the Police were in possession.
However, Alleyne countered by telling Cumberbatch he needed to collect the ball, especially those long passes in the backcourt and score given his height of over six feet. Hence the interaction and communication issues between those two proved problematic.
It got so heated that Cumberbatch asked for Alleyne to be substituted and from there things only got worse. Police were forced to call time out at certain periods of the game to get their act together.
That did not make much of a difference because in the third and fourth stanzas Police only managed a mere seven and 15 points as Cavaliers convincingly won in the end. The game was officiated by referees Emmerson Hurley and Andrew Mayers.
In the first matchup of the night, Pinelands stamped their authority 89-50 over Mayhill who tried their best but were beaten by a team with strong offensive and defensive prowess. Pinelands point guards are young energetic players and they ran the court comfortably to score at will against Mayhill.
While scoring proved easy for Pinelands, Mayhill on the other hand were guilty of playing the ball short and that cost them in the scoring department. Pinelands’ defenders Junior Moore and Deveron Knight and Kemar Benn to name a few, anticipated the rebounds well and secured possession easily.
Pinelands attack was led by top scorer Deroni Hurley with 25 points, Kiserian Adams contributed 18, Renico Brewster and Kemar Benn both tallied 15 and Deveron Knight accounted for 11 points. Mayhill’s top-scorer with 11 points was Daniel Lovell. morissalindsay@barbadostoday.bb
