Jets and Sonics victorious on night two
The race for the 2009 Next Level Entertainment (NLE) basketball tournament title involving the top clubs from Linden and Georgetown remains split after the second night of action at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall Sunday night. Amelia’s Ward Jets scraped past Maccabees 75 – 72 while Pepsi Sonics blew by Glands Trucking Service (GTS) Bulls 59 – 45.
The Jets/Maccabees clash was by far the more entertaining of the two matches for the night, since the Linden side who are considered a top contender for the title, turned in a sloppy performance against the minnows of Georgetown basketball clubs.
Being far more equipped with better players than the Maccabees, the Jets buckled in the first quarter even though they found some offensive flow through Akeem Kanhai and Neil Simon.
But the Maccabees, through the efforts of Kester Gomes and brothers Hodaya and Knameil Stewart were able to push hard and finished the first quarter trailing 18-21.
The second quarter saw the City team turning up the pressure some more as the Jets buckled and turned over the ball while also being unable to make good of clear baskets. Maccabees continued in good form to lead 56-54 at half time and when the third quarter resumed the Jets looked worse than in the two previous quarters as they turned the ball over more and were very poor from the free throw line.
The Jets fueled up in the final quarter and took off showing an all round team performance, but still their poor shooting from the free throw line continued to haunt them in this matchup.
Things got real interesting in the final minute of the game, as the two sides traded baskets. With 59 seconds remaining and the scores tied at 71, the Jets Neil Simon was fouled and went to the line but he only converted one. However as the game ticked away Knameil Stewart was fouled with 13.2 seconds remaining and tied the game at 72.
At the inbound, the Jets point guard Kevin Joseph using his speed to evade the Maccabees defenders dropped a pass to Domain Webster who converted an easy lay-up to put his team ahead 74-72.
They closed things off when forward Clifton Brush took a half court steal and found Kanhai who was fouled and scored only one sending the scores to 75-72 and by the time Maccabees inbound the time had expired.
Simon top scored for the Jets with 22 points while Joseph had 18, Webster 16 and Kanhai had 12 points. For Maccabees, the Stewart brothers Hodaya and Knameil had 25 and 18 points respectively.
Meanwhile the second game was a one-sided affair in favour of Georgetown’s Pepsi Sonics, as they effortlessly tamed the Bulls of Linden.
Coached by former national point guard Mark Agard, Pepsi Sonics were balanced at both ends of the court while the Bulls coached by Claude Williams scrambled all night to find a rotation.
Sonics led from the start and maintained their dominance leading 32-21 at the end of the first half. The second half saw the Bulls played worse as Sonics remained in command and held on for the victory.
Ryan Melville topped all scorers with 18 points while Trevor Smith had nine for the Bulls. Ryan Joseph had 14 coming off the bench while centre Terence James had 12 points. Tonight the tournament continues with the Beepat Scorpions taking on Patriots from Linden, while Alleyene’s Retrieve Raiders will come up against the Nets.
