Calabar capture basketball double
CALABAR High produced two top-class performances to crown themelves national champions as they captured both the Boys’ Under-16 and Under-19 titles at the 2016-2017 Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA) All-island National Basketball Championships finals at the GC Foster College in St Catherine.
In the Boys’ Under-16 final, Calabar defeated Jamaica College 51-44 points, in what was a repeat of the Southern Conference final played last month, while Calabar Under-19 defeated St Catherine High 68-55 points meeting for the first time this season.
The Red Hills Road-based school previously accomplished the double in 2015.
Calabar also captured the double in the Southern Conference competitions — winning both the Under-16 and Under-19 respective titles — thus ending the season with four titles.
Calabar’s Ackeem Brown was most valuable player in the Under-16 final, while his schoolmate Jevaughn Taylor won the Under-19 equivalent.
They were also successful in winning the MVP awards in the Southern Conference finals, where Clive Knight won in the Under-16 category while Shyeim Powell took the Under-19 section.
Ludloo Barker, coach of Calabar, said that from the start of the season players were aiming to capture the double in both Southern Conference and the National Championships.
Losing coach Lennox Lindo conceded that Calabar played extremely well.
In the Under-16 final where Calabar beat Jamaica College, the principal scorers for the winners were Ackeim Brown with 20 points and 27 rebounds, Nikar Hylton 11 points and 24 rebounds, and Carlton Boothe with 11 points, while for the losers, Jordan Brandon got 12 points.
In the Under-19 final, Calabar’s Jevaughn Taylor scored 24 points and Antonio Spence got 24 points. For the losers Daniel Jones had 13 points and Dayne Allen with 11.
Meanwhile, in the third and fourth place play-off, St Catherine High defeated former All-island Under-16 champions St George’s College 38-26 points, while in the Under-19, third-place play-off Herbert Morrison got the better of Ardenne High 49-47 points.
