Kwesi Mugisa, Staff Reporter

DEFENDING CHAMPIONS St. Catherine preserved their perfect start to the season when they clipped cross-town rivals St. Jago 56-53 in ISSA/KFC Southern Conference schoolboy basketball competition at St. Catherine High on Tuesday.

Last year's MVP, Javaughn Bailey, led the way for the title holders, scoring 28 points in the overtime win.

St. Catherine have now improved their record to a league best 4-0. In other games, Kingston College got the better of Wolmer's in a 73-69 home victory. Kingston College captain Omari Green had 22 points and 10 rebounds while teammate Dale Gale had 26 points and 12 rebounds.

At Excelsior, Tivoli High strode to an easy 51-35 win over the home team. Raphel Thomas top scored for the west Kingston team with 16 points and five assists as they flew out of the gates restricting an Excelsior team to just two baskets in the first quarter.

Pressing home their early advantage, they went on to totally dominate the proceedings, leading 22-12 by half-time and then 35-18 by the end of the third quarter. Jason Young also chipped in for Tivoli with 12 points. Keon Broderick put up some resistance for the Excelsior team, semi-finalists last year, but who have retained only two of that squad this season, as he top scored with 20 points. Tivoli now boast a 3-1 record.

In Under-16 action things went quite the opposite. Excelsior, led by 22 points and nine rebounds from Shadine Bolton and 20 points and five assists from Christopher Villa, handed Tivoli a 67-25 thrashing.

St. Jago, led by Jermaine Ramsey's 11 points, defeated St. Catherine 33-24, while Wolmer's, led by Frantz Lawrence's 25 points and 12 rebounds, got by Kingston College 55-35.