HJTV, Lens Craft Inter-Ward Basketball Finals …
DESPITE their admirable efforts and well-organised stratagem, Wortmanville/Werk-en-Rust (W/W) fell to defending champions North Ruimveldt (N/Ruimveldt) by a 74-72 margin in game one of the HJTV, Lens Craft Optical Inter-Ward Basketball final on Saturday night at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.

North Ruimveldt’s point guard Darcell Harris squares off man-to-man with Wortmanville’s Clement Brusche.

From the opening tip-off N/Ruimveldt carried an all-out offensive assault on their opponents and at one point in the first quarter surged ahead to a nine-point lead bolstered by the starting line-up of Ryan Stephney, Yusif Edghill, Rudy James, Andrew Ifill and Damien Liverpool.

N/Ruimveldt subsequently closed the quarter with a six-point lead, 20-14.

In the second quarter W/W made a successful play for control of the scoreboard relying heavily on fierce defence and consequently forcing N/Ruimveldt to commit a number of blunders.

By the end of the quarter W/W were ahead by a one-point differential of 31-32.

The third quarter saw N/Ruimveldt turn the tables as they scored two buckets to take a three-point lead which was equalised by a three-pointer from W/W’s Naylon Loncke, who scored a game total of 17 points with 5 rebounds, 2 assists and 3 steals.

This was reciprocated with a merciless 8-0 scoring run which took N/Ruimveldt ahead 43-35 at 5mins 38secs into the quarter.

His teammate Royston Siland also played a vital role in the team’s operations as he finished the game with 20 points scoring 6 of 13 from the field and 8 of 15 free-throws with 3 assists, 2 blocks, 1 steal and 9 rebounds.

By this point N/Ruimveldt were on the blunt side of the referee’s whistle as the team incurred a total of 25 fouls.

The third quarter ended 53-48 in N/Ruimveldt’s favour and paved the way for a chaotic fourth quarter which saw a desperate hustle by W/W to tighten their already fading grip on victory.

They, however, suffered at the hands of N/Ruimveldt with their overpowering offence, led by Andrew Ifill who achieved a game-high 25 points scoring 6 of 17 from the field with 2 of 4 free-throws, 8 rebounds and 1 assist.

He was followed in scoring by teammate Edghill with 11 points, scoring 5 of 9 field goals, backed up by 1 free-throw, 3 rebounds 2 assists and 4 steals.

The game ended on a high note: with 36.4 seconds left on the clock and W/W down by 5 points 67-72, W/W’s Loncke sank a three-pointer to close the lead to 2 points 70-72.

Royston Siland then intercepted an inbound pass but failed to complete the play. Edghill drew a foul and went to the line where he scored one of his two free-throws taking the score to 70-73 at 16.2 seconds. His teammate Rudy James went to the free-throw line and also scored one shot (70-74).

Siland then took his turn at the line and scored both free-throws (74-72) but as fate would have it W/W were unable to do anything else and succumbed to defeat.