ST GEORGE’S College and Camperdown High were crowned champions of the 2017/2018 Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA) High Schools Southern Conference Basketball Under-19 and Under-16 leagues, respectively, following the finals at G C Foster College on Monday.

Camperdown defeated Jamaica College (JC) 45-31 in the Under-16 final, while St George’s College upset defending champions Calabar High to claim the Under-19 crown with a 69-62 victory.

Camperdown High’s coach Oneil Brown said he was very happy to have won as the team played extremely well throughout the season.

According to Brown, the Under-16 has not lost a game throughout the Southern Conference competition and he was hoping to end the season unbeaten; he had hoped that the Under-19s could bounce back from their lone defeat and make a serious bid for victory in the all-island play-offs.

“It’s the first time Camperdowm has won the Under-16 title and we are looking forward to capture the All-Island National Championship, as the players are ready,” Brown said.

He added that despite not reaching the final at the Under-19 level, they still had a good chance and they, too, are ready. “I am looking forward to capture the double in the Under-16 championship.”

Meanwhile, Clifford Brown of St George’s College said it is a very good feeling, as the team has not won the Southern Conference Under-19 League for a long time, but qualified for the All-Island Champions and won the title in 2009.

“We applied a strategy and countered quickly to throw Calabar off their rhythm and tried to make the least mistakes, and also we try to be much quicker on the ball. The players stepped up the pace from then onwards inside the third quarter, as I know that the champions would try to make a late surge, but we held them off strongly to the end to come out winners,” Brown said.

He is now looking forward to winning the All-Island Championship against the Under-19 champions.

The Under-16 final was evenly contested in the first two quarters as not many baskets were scored, with the first quarter ending at 2-2 and again level at 9-9 at the half-time break.

The scoring pace stepped up gradually in the third quarter with Camperdown just having the better of their opponents 19-17 to gain a slender lead of 28-26.

Camperdown, however, outscored JC in the fourth and final quarter 17-5 to come out victorious.

The principal scorers for Camperdown were Matthew McGowan with 12 points, 12 rebounds and nine steals, and Alrich Morris with 12 points, seven steals and six assists, while for JC, Alex Rose was their main scorer with 13 points.

Action in the Under-19 final saw the “Light Blues” taking a first-quarter lead of 18-16.

Calabar picked up the pace in the second quarter and outscored their opponents 19-14 through Marcomchie Williams and Tyrese Jackson to take a 35-32 half time lead.

The third quarter belonged to St George’s College as they stepped up the pace through Samora Williams, Jordan Gillies and Kavom Gayle to outscore Calabar’s aggregation for a 56-49 lead at the final break. They beat their opponents 24-14.

Samora Williams was the main scorer for St George’s College with 19 points and 28 rebounds, while his teammates Gillies got 13 points and eight rebounds, and Gayle scored 11 points and 10 rebounds. For Calabar, Downer had a game-high 25 points, 16 rebounds and seven blocked shots, and Jackson added 17 points and eight rebounds.