DEFENDING champions Campion College defeated St George’s College 63-56 as the 2019/2020 Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA) Southern Basketball Conference (SBC) High School boys Under-16 competition resumed at Campion College on Wednesday.

The win moves the Ryan Martell-coached Campion to joint top of the points standing in Zone B with Jamaica College (JC) on 23 points. Both teams have two games in hand to complete their preliminary round of matches.

Both Campion and JC have lost only one game each during the season. Campion lost 44-55 to Excelsior High, while JC lost 59-64 to Campion.

Meanwhile, the Clifford Brown-coached St George’s College, despite losing to Campion, remain in fourth position with 21 points and have qualified for the quarter-finals, gaining one point from the loss.

The four teams that have qualified for the home and away quarter-finals are JC with 23 points from 12 games, winning 11; Campion College with 23 points from 11 wins and a defeat from 12 starts, Excelsior with 22 points from nine wins and four defeats from 13 matches, and St George’s College with 21 points from nine wins and three defeats from 12 outings.

The first quarter between Campion and St George’s ended 14-14, with St George’s College gaining a narrow 16-14 lead at the half-time break.

Campion College opened up a 50-44 lead at the end of the third quarter and St George’s College were never able to get any closer as the victors ran out easy winners.

The principal scorers for Campion were Micah Imani Swaine with 25 points, 12 rebounds, five steals and seven assists; Jonathan Morgan with nine points and 23 rebounds, while for St George’s College, Joshua Jackson got 11 points, Justin Nelson had 10, and Raechawn Lindsay added 10 points as well.

And Campion College also registered a fighting 58-52 win over All-island National champion St George’s College in the Under-19 game at the same venue.

The win pushed Campion to 17 points from 11 games in Zone B of the standings, while St George’s remained in fourth place with 19 points from 12 starts.

Kingston College (KC) lead with 27 points, followed by Excelsior High on 21 with a game in hand, Jamaica College on 20 points with three games behind, St George’s College on 19 points with two games in hand, St Jago on 17, and Campion College on 17 points with three games in hand.

In the Campion vs St George’s College Under-19 game on Wednesday at Campion, the home team surprised the national champions by taking a 21-10 lead at the end of the first quarter before extending the lead to 35-23 at half-time.

St George’s College rallied strongly in the third quarter to outscore Campion and moved within two points at one stage, but trailed 38-43 at the break. The fourth quarter was crucial for St George’s to get on even terms but Campion gave them little chance of closing their lead and went on to clinch victory 58-52.

The principal scorer for Campion was Jason Deer who got 19 points and 12 rebounds, while for St George’s College, Dallon Douglas with 15 points, Tadro Dickens with 14 points, and Lloyd Dryco with 12 points were the main scorers.