By Floyd Christie
The Washington DC Jammers team swept the three-game international basketball series and claimed the Godwin McPherson Memorial Trophy when they defeated the national President’s XII 68-77 in the final game, Tuesday night at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.
In contrast to the closely contested game two on Monday night, Tuesday’s game was a one-sided affair as the DC Jammers dominated the national team at all ends of the court.
The Jammers penetrated their opponent’s key with ease, while the national team found it difficult to do the same and mostly relied on open looks from outside the paint during the opening half.
The DC Jammers got off to a flyer, racking up 23 points by the end of the first quarter to more than double the 10 points the national team had accumulated.
Their scoring did not stop there and the Jammers went into the second quarter with equal aggression and intensity as the first, bringing down the majority of the boards and making good their shot attempts in transition.
As such, the Jammers built on their 13-point first quarter lead and ended the half in commanding style after outscoring the locals once again to close out the half with a 44-24 points lead.
The fans yearned for a national team comeback and did their best to rejuvenate the local team’s attack by cheering and applauding every basket made by the national players.
The hopes of the supporters were yet again put on pause as the President’s XII fell further behind on the scoreboard, and with a 23-point deficit between the DC Jammers total at the end of the third quarter, all hope of gaining a consolation win appeared lost.
Likelihood of a national team victory went out the door and so did a few attendees prior to the beginning of the fourth quarter, but not all was lost and those who remained fueled the local team as they applied pressure to the Jammers line-up and almost secured a remarkable comeback.
The national team managed to chip away at the mammoth DC Jammers lead until they were within six points in the latter half of the fourth quarter, but their attempt to pull of a stunning fourth quarter comeback was of no avail and they were fended off by the Jammers.
Andrew Ifill was once again a dominant figure on the national team as he racked up 19 points. He was assisted by Ryan Gullen’s 15 and Akeem Kanhai’s 11 points.
Mouktar Fawehinmi and his team captain Dexter Martin were the lead scorers for the DC Jammers with 15 points each.
Meanwhile, the Most Valuable Player of the tournament award was presented to the DC Jammers’ Lancelot Loncke.
