Playing the centre position, Scotland played a vital role in New Amsterdam’s near comeback victory against East Coast when he top scored with 19 points in their last game Thursday night.
His presence on the inside was needed last night and he re-entered the game with two minutes remaining in the first quarter.
Scotland got right to business as he successfully contested two North Ruimveldt defenders for a rebound off the ring and then immediately attempted to go up again for the lay-up between the defenders. In the process of blocking the shot attempt one defender accidentally made contact with Scotland’s left index finger, causing the injury.
He was treated immediately by medical personnel present at the game and it was confirmed that his finger had been broken. Due to the injury Scotland was unable to continue, and he will be out for six weeks.
Without their lead centre, New Amsterdam trailed 22-16 at the end of the first quarter. They stayed close behind the undefeated North Ruimveldt throughout the second, and what they lacked on the inside their Guard Carlos Crandon made up for around the key, hitting steady baskets as he went on to top score with 17 points.
The third quarter began with New Amsterdam trailing 38-31, but North Ruimveldt’s seven-point lead quickly increased to 21 at the end of the third as Ryan Stephanie continued to make his way around the New Amsterdam defenders on the inside and took it to the hole to accumulate his 24 points top score.
New Amsterdam tried hard to reduce the massive lead in the final quarter and they matched North Ruimveldt’s scoring, but the deficit was too large for them to drastically reduce and they gave North Ruimveldt their third win in succession when they lost by 19 points.
Damion Liverpool pitched in with 15 points for North Ruimveldt, while Theophilus Bess and Randy Richardson were key contributors to the New Amsterdam arsenal with 10 and 9 points respectively.
Following the curtain raiser, Christianburg sneaked a two point win over Kitty-Campbellville 51-53.
After being down by one in the first quarter, Kitty-Campbellville led the game all the way into the fourth, but the experience of the Christianburg players, such as Nkosi Gorrick who bagged 15 points and 16 rebounds brought them back in the fourth quarter and secured their two-point win.
Trevor Profit was instrumental in the fourth quarter for Christianburg as he totalled 13 points and Navin Grenville contributed 15.
Hodayah Stewart top scored for Kitty-Campbellville once again with 14 points.
In the final game of the night Central Mackenzie served East Bank their third loss of the tournament, and thrashed them 87-62.
It was all Steve Neils Jnr as he scored the first nine in Central Mackenzie’s 15-0 run in the first four minutes of the game. He went on to get a game high of 26 points and Orin Rose assisted with 16.
Meanwhile, Desmond Chin and Mark Richards totalled 18 and 17 points respectively for East Bank.
