Jaguars, All-Stars make it two straight
MONTEGO BAY, St James — Former champions Granville Jaguars and Catherine Hall All-Stars made it two wins from two starts while Holland Saints got their first win as the Western Basketball Association Elite League continued with a triple header at the Montego Bay Cricket Club on Saturday.
Granville Jaguars held off Cornwall Courts Chargers 71-61, Catherine Hall edged Lucea Flames 70-68, and Holland beat Inner-city Avalanche 61-50.
Jaguars, who were scheduled to play an NBL quarter-final game a day later, warmed up with the win despite being outscored 34-28 over the last two quarters.
The champions, who were led by Cleon Morgan’s double-double 11 points and 10 rebounds, led 20-4 after the first quarter and maintained the 16-point advantage at half-time, 43-27, and then extended it to 25 points, 63-38, going into the fourth quarter.
Cornwall Courts managed a revival in the fourth quarter, but the gap was too wide as Tafari Vassell led the winners with 13 points with Dave Black and David Gordon each scored 12 points.
Jason Spence scored a game-high 16 points for Cornwall Courts with Giovanni Bailey contributing 13 points and Detroy Jewry scoring 10 points.
Catherine Hall came back from a 19-point first-quarter deficit as they trailed 4-23 against Lucea Flames, outscoring the Hanover club 66-45 over the next three periods.
They cut the deficit to six at half-time, 30-36, and further to five points, 47-52, at the end of the third quarter, before outscoring them 23-19 in the final period.
Kurt Dorman led the way with a double-double 17 points and 11 rebounds as Odane Whittaker and Dwayne Johns both scored 13 points for Catherine Hall.
Julian Walker had a game-high 18 points, for Lucea Flames, Odane Collie scored 17 and Sheldon Myrie scored 14 points as Sherwin Gilzine had 11 rebounds and eight points.
Holland Saints, who were led by Errol Steele’s game-high 18 points, led all the way against Inner-city Avalanche as Michael Johnson scored 14 points and Martin Belnavis got 12 points with Kenrick Lindo grabbing 16 rebounds.
Damian Smith’s 15 points and 12 rebounds were the highlights for Avalanche.