Point guard Steffon ‘Penny’ Henry and centre Horace Hodges came into Courts Pacesetters’ starting lineup Sunday night to help the Georgetown number one seeded team get past East Coast at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.
Henry was out of the team for sometime while Hodges, an East Bank brand, made his debut for the Courts team to add the offensive and defensive balance the team needed to secure a 73-61 win in the Next Level nationwide first division tournament.
Both players scored under 10 points but contributed in blocked shots – defence and assists to eventually become top scorers, Naylon Loncke and Desmond Chin. The two forwards, Loncke and Chin, scored 16 and 15 points respectively.
Trenton Woolford scored 14 points while Dave Causway put in 12 for the East Coast team that applied early pressure on Pacesetters.
It was obvious that the Courts team was taking time to get adjusted to the new starting lineup. Hodges got into his rhythm low in the paint in the first quarter dominating the offensive boards and creating openings for Henry of fast break. The Courts team raced to a 16-8 lead with three minutes left in the quarter.
The East Coast starting guard, Kevin Sunich could not combat the speed and succinct assists by Henry who found the open player at any part of the court.
Courts coach Codagan continued to search for the right combination in the second quarter with previous starter in the guard position, Stephon Gillis coming into the game for the first time at the start of the quarter.
Marvin Wray also replaced Henry in the second quarter to lead Pacesetters to a 42-31 lead at half time. It was back to business for the Georgetown champions in the second half which saw less substations made by Cadogan.
Both teams scored five points in the first five minutes of the second half but a three- point jumper and lay-up from Loncke led Pacesetters to their biggest lead (52-37) in the game near the end of the third quarter.
It was smooth sailing in the final 10 minutes of the game for the Pacesetters despite a full court pressure defensive strategy being applied late in the game.
The tactic from East Coast forced a few blunders for the Courts team but their lead was enough to override the fumbles.
In the first game, Bounty Colts initiated an all Georgetown affair when they dominated U-Mobile Jets to secure a 74-52 win over the Linden team.
Point guard Kayode Murray was on point for the Colts with 13 points while big men Dane Kendall and Gavin Beeram helped with 11 and 13 points respectively to earn the side a quarter-final place.
Neil Chance was Jets’ leading scorer with 15 points while J. Inverary added 11 points as the team exited the tournament in the knockout competition.
However, tonight Linden’s Royals will face Pepsi Sonics in game one of a double header with Maccabees coming up against Nets in the feature game at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall for the final two quarter-final places.
Nets’s Pelham Doris, Mortimer Williams and point guard Jermain McAllister are looking to make a statement with an intriguing performance in the feature game tonight. The team’s performance depends heavily on the three quality players.
Maccabees have not enjoyed the best performances in the game recently. The team will have to dig deep to forge an upset against the respected Nets team. Maccabees will depend on Ush and Hodayah Stewart for strong performances.
