Pinelands cruise past Celtics

There just seems to be no stopping Pinelands in the Co-operators General Insurance BABA Premier League.

The defending champions maintained their unbeaten run to the season by easily brushing aside C.A.M Smart Assurance City United Celtics 82-65 at the Wildey Gymnasium on Tuesday night.

Led by Rasheed Maynard’s 24 points, Pinelands made it look easy against a talented Celtics side.

City United actually jumped out to an early 21-8  lead in the first quarter by pushing the tempo of the game.

However, Pinelands quickly responded by scoring four consecutive layups followed by a Maynard three-pointer, to end the quarter on an 11-0 run and trim the deficit to just two (21-19).

Maynard carried that momentum into the second period, scoring 10 early points. With the help of veterans Jeremy Gill and Junior Moore who rebounded and defended the key well, Pinelands outpaced the Celtics 21-9 in the period, to end the half with a comfortable 10-point lead (40-30).

In the third quarter Celtics put up a much better effort, matching their opponents almost point for point. However, they struggled to get stops on the defensive end, which was required to claw away at the deficit.

It was a gritty and determined effort by Celtics, which trailed 62-51 heading into the final period.

Once the fourth quarter began, Pinelands used their myriad of offensive weapons to pull away from Celtics. Almost all of Pinelands’ players got in on the action with Gill, Moore, Derion and Deroni Hurley, Maynard, Kiserian Adams, and Rachad Hall, all scoring from different areas on the floor.

By the end of the barrage, Pinelands had cruised to a 17-point victory.

Deroni Hurley finished with 14 points, six rebounds, and four assists, while Adams had 13 points along with five assists.

For the Celtics, Theo Greenidge was good for 20 points and seven rebounds and Tehron King added 10 points with seven rebounds.

The NSC Combined School Tridents earned another win in the first matchup of the evening, taking down the Warrens All-Stars 78-65 after leading 46-35 at halftime.

Antoine Winter top scored with 22 points and Nayiib Browne scored 14. Also contributing with 10 points each were Tristan Yarde, Zane Gaskin, and Joshua Harvey.

Kaliel Austin was good for 16 points for Warrens and Brandon Hope had 11.

(AS)