MONTEGO BAY, St James — Herbert Morrison Technical and Campion College booked their semi-finals spots in the Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association Boys’ Under-19 national basketball play-offs after completing back-to-back quarter-final wins on Monday.

Both Herbert Morrison, who beat Calabar High, and Campion College, who defeated Munro College, lead Group A with four points. With one game to go they are certain to qualify for the semi-finals set for February 8.

On Tuesday, Jamaica College and St Catherine High joined Herbert Morrison Technical and Campion College in the Under-19 semis after both also registered Group B wins. Jamaica College beat St James High for their second win, while St Catherine High did the same in getting the better of Manchester High.

St George’s College and Manchester High booked semi-final spots in the Under-16 competition after wins over Herbert Morrison Technical and Jamaica College, respectively, also on Monday.

In the Under-19 game in Montego Bay, Herbert Morrison Technical exacted some revenge for their overtime loss in the Jamaica Classic High School 3×3 competition last year with a hard-fought 61-54 win over Southern Conference champions Calabar High. The Calabar team was losing back-to-back games in the round.

After trailing 18-19 after the first quarter, the home team tied up the scores at 29-all, and then took a 42-35 lead going into the fourth quarter .

Calabar High whittled the lead down to three points with under two minutes to go but could not sustain their drive. Hubert Rodney, who had a double-double, and Renaldo Lewin finished off the game in style.

Rodney led all scorers with 30 points, including two big dunks and 13 rebounds. D’Aire Patterson also had a double-double featuring 10 points and 13 rebounds. Lewin, who has two three-point baskets early in the game, scored 11 points and had six steals.

Jahidi Campbell led Calabar High with 23 points and eight blocked shots, while Mark McGowan scored 13 points and had five rebounds, and Kadrien Stewart tallied eight points.

In the Under-16 game, despite missing a large part of the second half after twisting his ankle, Mikkel Green scored 16 points to lead St George’s College to a big 55-27 win over Herbert Morrison.

Jhamol Dixon scored nine points and had nine rebounds, while Thyah Irving scored eight points for the Kingston-based school which led 20-9 after the first quarter; 33-19 at half time; and 47-23 at the end of the third quarter.

Kamu Dennis and Joshua Ferguson both scored seven points for Herbert Morrison and Tevaughni Bernard hit six points and had eight rebounds.

— Paul A Reid