Kwesi Mugisa, Staff Reporter
St. Catherine's Dwayne Foster looks to strip the ball away from Wolmer's Fabian Thompson in KFC ISSA High School Basketball Southern Conference final action at Mico College yesterday. St. Catherine won the game 59-47 to take a 1-0 series lead in the best-of-three finals. - RICARDO MAKYN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
ST. CATHERINE and Calabar are one game away from lifting the KFC ISSA High School Basketball Southern Conference titles in the Under-19 and Under-16 divisions after taking 1-0 series leads over Wolmer's and St. George's yesterday.
Just as they did against St. Jago, St. Catherine snapped the 10-game winning streak of Wolmer's Boys, handing them a 59-47 loss on their home court yesterday.
Led by 23 points and 11 rebounds by Noel Wright, St. Catherine jumped out to a 14-7 first-quarter lead and never looked back. Though they would come close on occasions, Wolmer's failed to come up with the crucial baskets.
Trailing 32-24 at the half, the Heroes Circle team got off to a quick start to the third quarter and by the seven-minute mark had climbed to within a point at 32-31, but the always composed floor general Javan Bailey, who finished with 15 points and 10 assists, was lethal with both his passing and shooting. He seemed to come up with all the answers as he took the ball at the Wolmer's defence and refused to let his team relinquish the lead.
A big three by Bailey right on the five-minute mark saw his team eventually pull ahead by five and from there go on a run to close the quarter at 50-38. Though Wolmer's would make another run at the start of the fourth, cutting into the lead on the heels of a 22-point, seven rebound performance by Kerron Caine, but a number of careless turnovers made sure that they did not come all the way back.
SATISFYING RESULTS
The result was a satisfying one for Lennox Lindo, coach of a St. Catherine, who had lost to Wolmer's in the first game of the second round.
"Our main focus was on defence and we tried to run the ball as much as possible. We also did a good job of forcing them to shoot from outside and fronting their big men," Lindo said.
Now a game up in the best-of-three series, St. Catherine will have the home-court advantage against Wolmer's on Monday.
In Under-16 action, Calabar, led by 12 points and 12 rebounds from Anthony Lugg, did a much better job of maintaining their home-court advantage as they led wire-to-wire in fighting their way to close a 50-47 win over St. George's College.
