Invincible HMTHS in all-island finals

Western Conference Under-19 basketball champions Herbert Morrison High School (HMTHS) are through to their fourth all-island final after defeating Manchester High School 60-49 points in the semi-finals of the ISSA All-Island Basketball Competition at the Montego Bay Cricket Club Court on Wednesday.

Dave Black, coach of HMTHS who led them to their last all-island final in 2015 only to be beaten by Calabar, is confident they can go all the way this season as they remain undefeated, despite coming up short in the past three outings.

"The team is riding high," said Black. "We are pretty confident as we are undefeated still, so despite playing a poor game today, we just want to keep that momentum going.

"We just have to play our game, sticking to our defensive system and offensive system, and the victory will come. We are not worried about who we are playing and where the match is. We just need to go out there and play our game," he added.

HMTHS, who got off to a slow start in the first quarter to trail by eight (21-13), picked things up in the second quarter to take a one-point lead (31-30) at the half-time break. The host dominated the second half in their backyard, posting 14 in the third and 15 in the fourth quarter to Manchester's 11 and eight, respectively.

"I think we played poorly in the first quarter, allowing Manchester 24 points and us 13. I thought we stepped things up in the second half on the defensive side. We capitalised on the offensive side of the court, running fast breaks off the stops," said Black.

Brendon Dawkins led the scoring for HMTHS with 27 points and was backed up by David Gordon (13) and Alek Gilchrist (12). Rojae Graham (14) and Janeal Brown (9) were the top scorers for Manchester High.