CAMPERDOWN High and Herbert Morrison High were crowned champions of the 2017/2018 Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA) National High School Under-16 and Under-19 basketball titles, respectively, at the National Arena on Friday. Camperdown High from East Kingston were winning the National Under-16 title for the first time when they defeated Jamaica College (JC) 61-48. It was also the second time for the season both teams met in a final, following on the Southern Conference Under-16 competition where Camperdown came out winners.

Meanwhile, it was a much bigger celebration for Herbert Morrison in the Under-19 final as they came out with a thrilling 52-51 win over Camperdown High on their first ever meeting.

Winning coach of Herbert Morrison, Dave Black, who is also a national player, said members of the team and also the school are very happy to have come out champions this time around after his last three attempts.

“It was the fourth consecutive final that Herbert Morrison were playing, and I was also pretty confident that they would have won, as our opponents finished sixth in the Southern Conference competition, while Herbert Morrison had won the Western Conference title,” Black said.

Losing coach Oneil Brown of Camperdown High said the game came down to who wanted it more, and Herbert Morrison proved that they wanted the title and eventually won.

“I am not taking anything away from Herbert Morrison’s victory, but some of the calls during the game were inconsistent and I cannot blame the umpires as they are humans,” Brown said.

The principal scorers for Herbert Morrison were Gordon with 20 points, and 18 rebounds, and Dawkins with 18 points, while for Camperdown, Shemar Campbell scored 12 points, Odane Williams got 11 points and 18 rebounds.

In the Under-16 final, Camperdown took a 15-9 first-quarter lead, and at half-time they led Jamaica College 29-21. Camperdown increased their lead in the third quarter 47-32, but were outscored in the final quarter 14-16 points, but won convincingly 61-48.

Scoring for Camperdown were Matthew McGowan with 22 points and seven rebounds, Alrich Morris with 14 points, Mickel Wright with 11 points and 15 rebounds, while for Jamaica College, Alex Rose was the only player in double figures scoring 18 points.

Meanwhile, Calabar High defeated Campion College 48-38 for third place in the Under-16 play-off, while Christiana defeated Manchester High 47-27 in the Under-19 third place play-off.