Kwesi Mugisa, Staff Reporter
Tivoli Garden's Havando Dunn collects the ball ahead of teammates Fideus Bailey and Lenard Davis while St. George's Shane Williams looks on, in action from KFC-sponsored ISSA High School basketball competition yesterday. Dunn scored 35 points in Tivoli's 64-56 victory. - JUNIOR DOWIE/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
TIVOLI'S HAVANDO Dunn had a sensational 35-point, 14-rebound performance to lead his team to a 4-0 start to the 2005 KFC sponsored ISSA High School basketball season, following a 64-56 victory over St George's College at home yesterday.
Tivoli flew at St. George's from the opening whistle, knocking the home team back on their heels with three straight baskets for a 6-0 lead.
Despite an 11-point performance by Dunn, stout defending by St. George's saw them recover by the end of the first quarter and trail only 14-9. Shane Williams, who shone for George's in the encounter with 24 points and 14 rebounds, came up big in the second quarter.
In addition to two monstrous blocks, he put 10 points on the board, but timely shooting by Tivoli saw them keep his team at bay and at halftime the scoreline was 30-23.
BRILLIANT START
Sparked by a brilliant start to the third quarter by point guard Joscelyn Campbell, who finished with 16 points and eight rebounds, St. George's scored seven unanswered points to pull the scores level at 30-30 apiece and then they pulled ahead and led by four points with five minutes left to go in the third quarter.
Then it was Tivoli's turn to fight to stay in the game, Dunn could not find the bottom of the net, he hit only one of six shots and saw his team go into the fourth quarter trailing by nine points - 46-37.
However, it was a totally different story for him in the fourth quarter as he poured in a scorching 17 points to lead his team's comeback effort. For Campbell it was hero to villain in just a matter of minutes. With his team clinging to a two-point lead, he rose high on the fast break to dunk but was rejected by the rim, igniting another Tivoli fast break.
"We are playing as if we are playing just for the crowd ... maybe it's the girls. I can't believe that you would allow a team that you fought back to take the lead from, to be making lay-up after lay-up and that being up by a small score you would be trying to dunk and things like that," said St. George's coach, Clifford Brown.
With two minutes left to go, Tivoli regained the lead 52-51 and St. George's were never able to recover.
Tivoli's coach, Desmond Fray, was elated with his team's victory.
"We definitely came to win this one. We were trailing in the third quarter but we settled down in the fourth and I am very pleased with the team's effort today," Fray said.
The North Street team has now slumped to its second straight home loss of the season for an overall 1-2 record. In Under-16 action, 17 points and 10 rebounds from Cleon Morrison helped St. George's to a narrow 57-56 victory over Tivoli.
