Herbert Morrison seek fifthstraight basketball double
MONTEGO BAY, St James — Double defending champions Herbert Morrison Technical will be seeking a fifth-straight double when the best-of-three finals of the ISSA Western Conference boys basketball final are held at the Montego Bay Cricket Club today.
Herbert Morrison qualified for both finals after lop-sided wins over York Castle and Rhodes Hall in the Under-16 and Under-19 semi-finals, respectively, at the Cricket Club on Wednesday.
In today’s Game One of the finals, they will face Cornwall College in the Under-16 for a third-straight year and firsttime finalists York Castle in the Under-19 section where they are the reigning national champions.
In the other semi-finals on Wednesday, Cornwall College beat Holland High in the Under-16 game, but were edged by York Castle in the Under-19 match.
Before the start of the finals today, York Castle and Holland High will meet in the Under-16 play-offs, while the second games in the finals will be played on Wednesday after the consolation play-offs in the Under-19 between Cornwall College and Rhodes Hall.
If necessary, the third and deciding games would be played on Saturday, January 26.
On Wednesday, Herbert Morrison beat York Castle 77-37 in the Under-16 game and beat Rhodes Hall 83-50 in the Under-19 game.
Cornwall College were 58-53 winners over Holland High in the junior game, while York Castle avenged a 17-point defeat to Cornwall College in a 55-50 reverse in the Under-19 semi-final.
Anthony Thorpe led all scorers with 25 points for the Herbert Morrison Under-16 team as they steamrolled York Castle to win by 40 points; Akeem Kelly scored 19 points and Kyle Fraser got 13 points.
Lennon Richards had a double-double 19 points and 14 rebounds for York Castle who were outscored 43-15 over the last two quarters.
Cornwall College, who were led by double-double from Romario Senior, recovered from an early deficit to lead Holland High in double digits in the third quarter before holding off the Trelawny school by five points in their Under-16 game.
Paced by a game-high 31 points from Flawless Travers, Holland High scored the first six points of the contest and were up 8-3 before ending the first quarter leading 12-9.
Cornwall College got their first lead at 15-14 in the second quarter and led 24-18 at halftime and 45-34 going into the fourth quarter.
Senior scored 22 points and had 15 rebounds for Cornwall College, while Peter Murray scored 14 points and had nine rebounds as Tyreese Williams got 18 points for Holland High.
Despite being short-handed, with one substitute on the bench, Rhodes Hall made it a contest against Herbert Morrison in the Under-19 semi-final and were within a point of the national champions with five minutes to go in the first half, but wore down as the game went on and were outscored 39-19 over the third and fourth quarters.
Herbert Morrison’s David Gordon had a double-double of 39 points and 18 rebounds and just missed a triple double with nine assists before fouling out with just over a minute to go in the game.
Kevin Smith assisted with 15 points and Davaughn Campbell had eight points and 10 assists, while Javani Davis scored 17 points for Rhodes Hall and Akeem Davis scored 16.
Nadjrick Peat scored a big double-double 28 points and 26 rebounds to will his team to a win over Cornwall College who also had two players registering double-doubles.
The teams were close for most of the game except the third quarter where York Castle, who trailed by two points (25-27) at the half, led 42-37 going into the fourth quarter and held on for the win.
Omar Campbell scored 15 points and had 11 rebounds along with eight steals to lead Cornwall while Kenrick Brown scored 14 points and had 10 steals.