Ardenne's Adam Fernandez (left) tries to steal the ball away from Calabar's Anthony Lugg during their ISSA Under-16 All-Island semi-final at the National Stadium Courts. Ardenne won 60-53 in overtime. - Winston Sill/Freelance Photographer

Robert Bailey, Freelance Writer

OLD HARBOUR High and Ardenne will contest next Thursday's All-Island final of the Inter-secondary Schools' Association Under-16 basketball competition after both teams recorded overtime semi-final victories at the National Stadium Courts on Tuesday.

In the opening game, Old Harbour defeated Excelsior 52-42 while Ardenne downed defending champions Calabar 60-53 in the following encounter.

Demar Fearon led the way for Old Harbour with a game-high 20 points and 10 rebounds and 11 assists. He received good support from Derana Barrett (11 points, 23 rebounds and four blocks) and Rushane Ingram (11 points and six rebounds).

Shadenie Bolton, 15 points and eight rebounds, and Dario McKayle, 13 points, were the top scorers for Excelsior.

Valuable roles

Ardenne were led by a game-high 28 points and 14 rebounds and five blocks from forward Alex Lumbsey while Adam Fernandez (14 points and five assists) and Dimitri Gage (seven points and nine steals) also played valuable roles. Anthony Lugg (24 points, 22 rebounds and 11 steals) and Kavin Karty (16 points) were the leading scorers for Calabar.

Fernandez fouled out with less than two minutes remaining in extra time but excellent defending by his teammates forced their opponents into a number of turnovers at crucial points down the stretch and Ardenne hung on for the victory.

Basil Barrett, coach of Ardenne, was pleased with his side's performance.

"Despite the fouling out of Fernandez, we knew that we had other players who could come off the bench and do the same job he was doing. So losing him late in the game wasn't any big deal," said Barrett. "I needed them just to follow instructions and once they follow instructions we can win games. We beat Old Harbour last week by one point down in the country ... my team is a good team," he said.