The Cougars’ win streak came to a screeching halt on Tuesday night, as the Jaguars held on to defeat them 71-70, as the beast-of-three finals in the Spar Sports Gear, Peak Sports Caribbean Battle of the Cats invitational basketball tournament got underway at the Barbados Community College (BCC) gym.
In what can only be termed as an exciting momentum shifting game, the Cougars came from 21 points down at halftime, 44-23 to tie the game at 64 all with 4:20 left in the game. Zachary Cave put the Cougars ahead with a baseline jumper (64-66), causing Jaguars’ coach Kelan Phillips to call a timeout and regroup his players.
Out of the timeout, the Jaguars went ahead 69-66 before Cougars’ franchise player Kiserian Adams crossed veteran Zahir Motara, right to left, before he pulled up and nailed a straight on three to tie the game once again (69-69). On the ensuing possession, Jags franchise player Joel Hunte drove against traffic to score a layup in the lane (71-69), giving his team a slim lead with 18.6 seconds to play.
On the ensuing possession, Adams turned over the ball in the open court but a careless shot clock violation by the Jaguars placed the ball back into the opponent’s hands. Adams made it to the free throw line to cut the lead to one at 71-70. He missed the second free throw, but his team grabbed the offensive rebound, and a timeout was blown.
Iantham Alleyne, the Cougars’ coach, called a brilliant play. Adams came off two screens towards the inbounder, and the defence shifted with him. Adriel ‘AB’ Brathwaite then rolled late to the basket, completely free, but he fumbled the basketball on the pass. He recovered the ball and was able to make an attempt at scoring, but his baseline shot from behind the backboard was blocked by Dario Cumberbatch of the Jaguars, and time ran out.
Hunte finished with a double-double of 20 points and 10 rebounds, while Rachad Hall scored 11, Motara nine, and Jamali Holder eight points. The Jaguars were counting their lucky stars as Adams was held scoreless in the first half. The lanky forward missed his first 12 shots but then went 8 of 11 from the field to top score in the game, finishing with 21 in the second half to help his team recover. Reniko Brewster played excellent defence during the game, and he, along with Akeem Williams, added 11 points to the tally, while Cave had 10 and ‘AB’ had nine points with 16 rebounds.
The Pumas took a 1-0 lead in the third-place matchup, defeating the Lions 85-73 in the first game of the evening. At halftime, the score read 41-33 to the Lions, and after three quarters, it was an eight-point advantage for Pumas (59-51).
At the end of it all, the firepower of the Pumas, along with their team style of play, was too much for the Lions, a team reliant heavily on its franchise player Rasheed Mayard. Playing well throughout the tournament, Maynard finished with a night-high 29 points and nine rebounds in the loss for the Lions. Deroni Hurley led the Pumas with 27 points, six rebounds, six assists and six steals. Hurley’s support came from Stephan Ottley and Jared Alleyne, who both registered season-high tallies with 20 and 15 points, respectively.
Game 2 of the Finals is slated for Sunday, November 17th at 7 p.m., preceded by the second game of the third-place battle at 5:30 p.m.
(AS)
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