Colts’ offense steamrolls Falcons, Raiders survive scare

Feb 20, 2015 Sports

-National Basketball Championship heats up

By Edison Jefford
After an iffy start, Colts United’s offense went on to steamroll Bankers

Colts’ Forward, Haslyn Hooper (#5) powers his way through the paint for a lay-up off the glass against Falcons Wednesday night.

Trust Falcons, securing a place in the Super Eight of the National Basketball Championship (NBC): Road to Mecca II Wednesday night at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.
The Georgetown-based Colts blew the Linden-based Falcons out of the tournament following an intriguing first half in the first of two games of the night. Colts scored 58 points in the last half to beat Falcons 98-68 in a game that ended up lopsided.
Guards, Dave Causway, Shelroy Thomas and Rayon Cummings were the main destroyers with a running game that completely wore Falcons down. Causway had 19 points and seven assists with seven steals to compliment his offensive work with defence.
Thomas was also unstoppable with 19 points that included six assists while Cummings scored 15 points with three assists and three steals. Colts’ ‘big men’ also went to work with Shane Webster scoring 14 points and grabbing six rebounds and Haslyn Hooper adding eight points and six rebounds.
Colts trailed Falcons 14-19 after the first quarter. Down 25-30, Colts went for surety to Webster on the inside. Webster delivered with eight straight points to give Colts the lead even as Falcons’ Marlon Persaud hosted a jump-shooting clinic for enthusiasts.

Colts’ Guard, Shelroy Thomas (right) works his magic Wednesday night at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall when the NBC continued.

However, Persaud’s efforts did not get sufficient support as Colts run continued to extend in the game, which persisted in an up-tempo manner with flaring tempers. Persaud had 19 points while Devon Thompson scored 11 points and grabbed six rebounds. Thorton Wilson got 10 points and grabbed four rebounds for Falcons.
In the second game, last year’s finalist, Retrieve Raiders from Linden survived a scare from New Amsterdam Warriors in a low-scoring defensive battle. Raiders eventually prevailed 48-44, after their offense literally froze in the second half of the game.
Raiders went to the halftime break leading 33-17 and increased the advantage to 17 points, 37-20 midway through the third quarter until Warriors went on an 8-0 run to cut the lead to single digits and stem the Raiders’ flow of steady points.
Warriors managed to restrict Raiders to eight points in the entire third quarter while they doubled that effort, scoring 16 points in the period; this was against the backdrop of Neil Marks’ shooting in the first half that threatened to blow out Warriors.
Raiders were kept to even fewer points, seven, in the last period of the game, but Warriors could not finish on possession, which sort of gift-wrapped the game for Raiders. Raiders meltdown and Warriors surge actively engaged the small but vocal crowd.
Marks finished with 20 points and nine rebounds while Keon Cameron had nine points to ensure that the Linden-based team join Kings, another team from Linden, in the quarterfinal round. For Warriors, Edmar Semple scored 19 points and grabbed 12 rebounds while Kevin Thom had eight points and four assists.
The Super Eight Playoffs will commence The National Basketball Championship Weekend next Friday at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall. The Final Four will follow the next day with Finals set for Sunday March 1 in a pulsating weekend of basketball.