… Bulls down Kings
RETRIEVE Raiders edged Victory Valley Royals 58-57 and in the process fended off a tournament-high 35 points from junior national player Marlon Pollydore, while Half Mile Bulls downed the Kashif and Shanghai Kings 62-50, as the Linden Amateur Basketball Association’s (LABA) Under-23 basketball championship continued Tuesday night at the Mackenzie Sports Club hard court.
The win for the Raiders was fashioned by the combined efforts of another junior national player, forward Geoffrey La Rose, who scored 13 points while solid support came from Duel Garner and Sheldon Noel with 12 points each, while centre Omar Sam added eight.
The game was even at 34 but the Raiders opened out to hold a 41-34 only to see the Royals rebound to lead 47-43, before Deval Wilson scored one from down town, to give the Raiders a 48-47 edge with 7:40 left on the clock.
As the game clock was winding down back-to-back threes from Pollydore followed by a two-point penetration which gave his team the lead, but Raiders’ Omar Sam’s shot from beyond the arc enabled them to draw level, Yannick Primo sealing the win with a shot from the stripe.
Apart from Pollydore with 35 points, the next best scorer for the losing Royals was junior national player Chris Williams who got 13 points.
The Bulls had earlier scored an emphatic win over the Kings after taking control at the end of the third quarter 41-26, with their win being crafted by the smooth-scoring guard/forward Michael Turner who was slick and dominant in his team-high 25 points.
However, the Kings had turned in a fine second-half display through their former junior national shooting guard Orin Rose who scored 18 of his game-high 23 points in the second half, and the team’s final 12 points of the game.
With Turner leading their challenge, the Bulls got a combined effort from Keon Cameron (11), Travin Dryden (10) and centre Horace Gurrick with eight points respectively while Rose’s teammate Quincy Easton supported him with 12 points.
The competition continues tomorrow at the same venue with another double which will see Raiders take on Half Mile Bulls from 18:30hrs while at 20:30hrs, Amelia’s Ward Jets swing into action against Victory Valley Royals in what should be two more exciting matches.