Former junior national Louis James and national centre Jason Alonzo turned in superb performances to lead the East All-Stars over their West side competition in the Alleyene’s Retrieve Raiders inaugural All-Star game over the weekend in Linden.
Playing in front of a sizable crowd at the Mackenzie Sports Club (MSC) hard court, the East, which had a more rounded offensive side, used that advantage to take an early lead over the West team who were stronger on the defensive end.
With national power forward Dwayne ‘Brown Sugar’ Roberts leading at both ends of the floor the West team found it hard to mesh properly in the initial stages of the game while the East fed off the early exploits of Alonzo and James.
Coach of the East team Calvin Slowe did an excellent job at rotating his bench and using his artillery wisely which saw national junior player Akeem Kanhai and guard Neil Simon stepping up after leading guard Kevin Joseph found himself in early foul trouble.
Kanhai was able to make his presence felt in the game by taking on his more senior counterparts with his one-on-one game to penetrate and make the easy baskets.
At half time, the scoreboard read 31-28 in favour of the East. The second half saw a bit more purposeful basketball from the West with Roberts finally finding his groove and working a good two-man game with teammate Quincy Jones as the two worked on the weak East defense.
But once again a few key substitutes by the East coaching staff saw the more offensively built team holding on to take a much deserved win.
James and Alonzo ended with 12 points apiece but the lanky centre slapped six block shots and grabbed 12 rebounds to take home the MVP trophy while his team won the first prize of $60,000.
Roberts had a game high 20 points in a losing cause while Jones was the next primary scorer with 12 points.
Meanwhile, in the supporting game, the Teachers were taught a valuable lesson by the Students as they were blown away by 22 points (80-58).
The game featured some of future stars of the sport in the school system against the teachers and they seized the opportunity to deliver a firsthand whipping on their educators.
Junior national player Orin ‘Six-head’ Rose poured in a game high 21 points, inclusive of some bombs from down town as the Students led 35-31 at half time.
Jeffery La Rose (18), the ever-improving Sheldron Noel (16) and rising star Akeem ‘The Dream’ Kanhai (12) were able to give admirable support and put on a good show for the crowd on hand and steer their side to victory.
For the Teachers Keith Bailey top scored with 19 points while Swain Ross had 15.
The event according to the organizers will be held annually and next year it would be bigger and better. They thanked all the sponsors who came onboard to make the night a success and said that they are looking forward to working closely with them next year.