Albouystown confirm Inter-Ward Basketball dynasty

Oct 07, 2013 Sports

– sweep Wortmanville in best-of-three Final

By Edison Jefford

Albouystown/Charlestown re-established their basketball dynasty Saturday night when it swept Wortmanville/Werk-en-Rust in two games to defend the Inter-Ward basketball title they had won back in 2010 before the two year hiatus for the tournament.
Albouystown beat Wortmanville 87-82 to claim the best-of-three series 2-0 at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall, in what was a Mackeson-sponsored Trinity Grid Holdings (TGH) Pacesetters-hosted event. Albouystown’s offence was generally superior in the series.
Nicko Fraser scored 21 points and grabbed six rebounds in an effort that landed him the Giftland OfficeMax-sponsored Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the Finals award. Sheldon Thomas continued his remarkable shooting with 20 points and seven rebounds, while Marvis Hilliman had 19 points and eight rebounds and Sheldon Frank 10 points in a collective effort.
For Wortmanville, who were without the offensive forward, Michael Turner, and who lost Elton Jefford Jr. to a knee injury that further depleted its bench, Randy Richardson had 25 points and 10 rebounds for a double-double, while Jermaine Hamilton scored 25 points with eight rebounds as Shawn Gillis and Joslyn Crawford added 12 and 11 points each.
The teams were neck-and-neck in first half with Wortmanville leading 41-35 at halftime. Up 44-37 in the third quarter, Thomas and Trevor McCleod scored consecutive layups for a 41-44 points’ deficit; it was obvious that Albouystown were going on the offensive.
Fraser nailed a mid-range jumper off the glass before Hilliman finished a layup to equalise at 49 points midway through the period. Thomas then gave Albouystown the lead 51-49 with an inside play that sparked an offensive take-over for Albouystown.
The defending champs pressed for several steals that led to 55-49 lead, but Gillis drilled a three-pointer then Richardson finished a layup to cut into Albouystown’s advantage; Hamilton’s layup along the baseline made it a one-point (56-57) game with three minutes to play in the penultimate period of the Inter-Ward final.
Turnovers wreaked havoc for Wortmanville in the crucial quarter and Albouystown capitalised as Hilliman finished huge inside plays. Thomas landed yet another three-pointer for Albouystown with under a minute to play in the period that ended 64-59 in their favour.
Albouystown went for a stifling man-to-man defence, which helped them to suddenly control the offensive momentum of the game. Fraser drilled another mid-range jumper for a 70-63 lead; then Thomas drained a three-pointer to extend the lead before Wortmanville were hit with a crucial technical foul that removed the buoy from an already sinking ship.
Albouystown maintained 82-70 points’ grip with Thomas landing big jumpers, but Wortmanville showed some character down the stretch with a mini-run that was hardly threatening.
Albouystown were quick to dedicate the victory to Juan Richardson also known as Joe, who had collapsed on the Albouystown basketball court and subsequently died last December; he was the muse behind their success story.
In the third place game, Plaisance Vryheid’s Lust blew-out Alberttown/Bourda 85-50 with Ryan Gullen dropping 22 points and grabbing 19 rebounds.
Ron Campbell had 17 points and 12 boards while Hugh Arthur scored 13 points. For Alberttown, Olatunde Griffith scored 11 points.
Plaisance/Vryheid’s Lust forward, Ryan Gullen was the Best Rebounder of the tournament with 71 rebounds while Tucville/Guyhoc guard, Jason Squires had the most steals with 11 as Naylon Loncke carted off the Mark Agard trophy for the Most Assists with eight and the Stanislaus Hadmon trophy for Most Free-throws; Thomas won the Eon ‘Wicko’ Leitch trophy for the Most Three-pointers of the tournament with 12; Crawford had the Most Block Shots with 15 blocks in the tournament.

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