By Paul-Andre Walker, Staff ReporterJAMAICA COLLEGE battled their way past Calabar High and into the final of the ISSA/KFC basketball Under-19 competition yesterday at the Stadium Courts.
In a game that could have passed for a final, JC's point guard, Rohan Cruise came up with 30 points to push his team towards a 77-67 victory. In similar fashion to JC's centre, Omar Barnes ended the game with a mammoth double-double scoring 29 points and crashing the boards for 35 rebounds.
For the losers Kemar McLeish scored 29 points and had 11 rebounds in a valiant effort.
In the preceding Under-16 semi-final, Tivoli came out 44-38 winners over Ardenne, while in the Northern Conference Under-16 series, Charlemont beat McGrath 30-25 and Brown's Town had a 32-26 victory over Ocho Rios.
Revenge was the watchword for JC who were beaten by this Calabar team in the preliminary round but despite the 10 point margin of victory, the game wasn't as easy.
JC went into an early 10 point lead and looked to have Calabar on the run. The momentum that they carried from the first quarter was extended to the fourth until disaster struck. Cruise, who was completely dominating the game with blistering pace, both defensively and offensively fouled out with seven minutes to go on a drive to the basket where he was deemed to have effected an offensive foul.
The swing of the tide was so effective that Calabar had a run that cut the lead from 13 points down to four with two minutes to play. Barnes had four fouls and couldn't be much help defensively. He was still instrumental in getting to the line when his team couldn't find a way to the basket. His final quarter heroics single handedly stopped the last minute blitz of his Red Hills Road competitors.
"Our main guard had fouled out early in the quarter and we were worried because he is the one that directs and dictates the pace of the game, but the guys did well," were the words of a relieved JC coach, James Johnson.
Losing coach, Conroy Ritchie, was gracious in defeat and attributed their loss to one thing.
"JC, they where the difference today. They stepped up their game, they rotated it around their point guard who played exceptional," he said.
