By Joe Chapman

LED by a game-high 30 points, laced with five 3-pointers from former Junior National guard Marlon Pollydore, the Linden senior basketball champions Victory Valley Royals continued their dominance in the Mining Town when they handsomely walked away with the Linden Amateur Basketball Association’s (LABA) Malta Supreme Madness Open championship. They caged Half Mile Bulls 84-62 in the final clash last Saturday night at the Mackenzie Sports Club hard court.

It was a fitting end to a championship where the Royals played unbeaten and added another title to their collection, following their MSC Open League win in December last year.
The Royals, who lost once in the double-round league they eventually won – that defeat coming in their final game against the Bulls 87-79 – made no mistake this time and finished unbeaten as they led throughout this championship game.

Pollydore showed his experience as he led the Royals superbly in the back court and with their most dependable player, Harold Adams, playing a reserved role, it was left to Pollydore to step up on his game. He did this admirably and showed great leadership in this crucial game and maintained his recent splendid scoring touch.

The Royals played without Chris Williams and Orlando Glasgow. Their leader Adams was content, after triggering their first-half 17-12 lead through Alwyn Rodney and Yannick Tappin. Adams eventually had 17 points while youngster Daniel Lee netted 10, Alwyn Rodney nine, Yannick Tappin eight and Akali Moore six for the winners.
The Bulls were unable to rough up their opponents as they did in the last MSC Open League game, when they led at the end of each quarter to snap the 11-game winning streak by the Royals in last December’s League championship.

With a 23-18 exchange to end the first half, the Royals led 40-30 at halftime and had narrow runs in the third and fourth quarters of 13-12 and 33-30 respectively, to eventually win 86-72.
Welch had to settle for 13 points, seven coming in the second quarter, as Dillon Pellew got 10 and Kevin Easton contributed seven. Emmanuel Larose and Vibert Benjamin had six points apiece.

In the third-place play-off game, Amelia’s Ward Jets closed out the challenge from Retrieve Raiders romping home 84-62 after leading 38-32 at halftime before a 23-6 stifling run over the Raiders put the game beyond their reach. However, no individual scores were available in this game.