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Diamond, Kwakwani through to Super Eight
By Edison Jefford
Diamond/McDoom and Kwakwani became the latest teams to advance to the Super Eight round of the
Ryan Stephney
National Community Basketball League (NCBL) after comfortably disposing of respective oppositions Sunday night at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.
Diamond McDoom blew out Alberttown/Bourda 86-46 to end the latter’s campaign in the contest that sparked many emotional outbursts from Alberttown’s Coach, Derek Alphonso, who forced the referees to interrupt the game to caution him on several occasions.
Alphonso just could not take the pounding his team was subjected to in the game. Diamond were merciless; Kwesi Roberts scored 17 points while Jermaine Slater had 12 points and 11 rebounds with Ryan Stephney adding 11 points, 12 rebounds and five steals.
Jacob Lowe scored 12 points, nine of which came in the first quarter, and grabbed seven ‘boards’ while Yannick Wade scored 10 points for the team that had an offensive meltdown in the second half after a reasonably good start to the must-win game for them.
Lowe got things going with back-to-back three-pointers for Alberttown that kept his team in tact on the offensive end. Conversely, while they resorted to shooting at a high percentage, Diamond worked the ball inside to ‘big men’ Slater and Horace Hodges.
Slater finished a mega baseline two-handed dunk off a feed from nippy national guard, Rodwell Fortune to put Diamond up 10-8 in the first quarter. Lowe then answered with his third three-pointer of the quarter to give Alberttown their first lead of the game.
But offensive sustenance was obviously an issue for Alberttown as Diamond took off on a 7-0 run after returning ball inside to substitute forward, Mark Richards, but nevertheless, the first quarter ended 17-15 with Diamond ahead and looking much more at ease.
Christopher DeHaart opened the second period with a three-point jumper that gave an Alberttown team that lacked enough scorers their second, and what would eventually become their only other lead in the game. Fortune’s fast-break lay-up quickly switched the lead.
However, five possessions without conversion ensued for Diamond as Alberttown also struggled to finish easy chances at the other end. Four scoreless minutes elapsed before Roberts broke jinx with a three-pointer that got Diamond going again offensively.
Slater jump shots and intimidating figures of Richards and Hodges clogged up the paint on defence, forcing turnovers and quick-breaks for Fortune. Diamond were on an offensive run that sealed the first half 36-22, which quickly became 40-22 at the start of the third period.
Shelroy Thomas
Lowe nailed his fourth jumper from beyond the arc but Diamond went relentless on offence with Travis ‘Cook-Up’ Foster putting the ball high off the glass, and Rodrigues landing a three-pointer to give the East Bank of Demerara-based team a 49-28 lead.
Alberttown would have probably thought of a comeback, but that would have taken the effort of Dwayne Wade and Lebron James, who were at the same time hauling the Miami Heat back into the fourth game of the NBA Eastern Conference Final against Boston. Sadly, there was no Wade or James for Alberttown in the crucial game.
The writings were on the wall for Alberttown as Diamond unleashed a savage offensive attack in the last quarter that emotionally devastated the opposing Alphonso. The Alberttown Coach could not watch the brutal destruction of his defence and he took it out on the referees. However, there will not be anymore chances presented to Alphonso for outbursts as his team will now watch the remainder of the tournament from the bleachers of the Sports Hall.
In the first game, Kwakwani secured its place among the last eight teams with an 85-73 triumph against East/West Ruimveldt, which was their second win in as many games. Kwakwani played their second consecutive game after also winning Saturday night.
Dominique Douglas had 24 points, four rebounds and four steals, while Shelroy Thomas scored 22 points, four rebounds and a mammoth nine steals. Raul Gordon scored 10 points and grabbed eight rebounds for the team that makes up with speed what they lack in size.
For East/West Ruimveldt, Owan Walton scored 27 points and grabbed 20 rebounds with Warren Oudkerk scoring 14 and Jason Cort 10 points. The NCBL continues tonight at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall with BV/Melanie taking on New Amsterdam in the first game and South Ruimveldt coming up against Lodge/Meadowbrook who are already through to the Super Eight.
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