Kwesi Mugisa, Staff Reporter
St. Georges's Mark-Paul Cowan scrambles for a loose ball ahead of Calabar's Sheamar Kelly in action from the KFC sponsored ISSA High School basketball Under-16 final at St. George's yesterday. St. George's won 61-60 in overtime to level the series at 1-1. - RUDOLPH BROWN/CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER
ST. GEORGE'S College made use of their homecourt advantage when they narrowly got by Calabar 61-60 in overtime, to level the best-of -three series at one game apiece and force a decisive game three in the KFC-sponsored ISSA High School basketball Southern Conference Under-16 competition yesterday at the National Stadium.
Led by 17 points and 10 rebounds from Cleon Robinson, the North Street team still had to fight hard to earn the right to play another day.
Following a dead even first quarter 11-11, a second quarter surge saw George's eventually pull ahead by halftime with a seven-point lead at 32-25.
However, the green and black of Rabalac would not be a team easily discouraged and, led by an awesome 30 points, 10 rebounds and four blocked shots by big man Omari Williams, they would muscle their way back into the encounter and assisted by a couple of untimely George's turnovers trailed only 40-39 at the end of the third.
Midway through the fourth quarter, a big shot by Morrison saw them gain the lead, which they narrowly held on to at 53-51 with 1:25 left in the final stanza. With the season on the line, Mark-Paul Cowan's clutch free throws sent the game into overtime.
" They played as if they were no tomorrow. We had to win to keep it alive to get into game three. It was a do-or-die situation and it was a difficult match," said St. George's coach, Clifford Brown.
Coming back from an early deficit in overtime, George's, fuelled by crowd support, rallied to take a narrow lead and with 2:00 left. Calabar's Dexter Davis, who had 15 points 13 rebounds, missed three straight free throws, seeing his team's effort come up just short.
Now, buoyed by the win, Brown believes game three is his team's for the taking.
"We knew that we could beat Calabar. We are not afraid of them and we know that we can overcome them," he said.
While disappointed that the day did not belong to him, Calabar's coach, Ludlow Barker, his team will recover.
"We started picking up our defence late and sometimes when you dig yourself a hole you don't make it all the way out."
"St. George's played a good game today but we will be ready at the National Stadium and we will show that we are Southern Conference champions," he said.
The deciding final will be played next Monday.
