Cornwall, Rhodes Hall hold advantage in finals

Adrian Frater, News Editor

Western Bureau:

Fresh from game one victories on Tuesday, Cornwall College and Rhodes Hall High will be seeking to crown themselves Under-19 and Under-16 champions, respectively, when they engage Mannings and Holland High in today's game two of their best-of-three finals, in the 2010 ISSA/KFC western high- school boys' basketball competition, at the Montego Bay Cricket Club Courts.

In the three o'clock curtain-raiser, Rhodes Hall, which scored a hard-fought 46-44 win over the resolute Holland High in their epic game one Under-16 clash, will start favourites to seal their series 2-0 while Cornwall College, which had a 70-61 win against Mannings in their Under-19 showdown, are also favoured to end their series 2-0.

However, should Rhodes Hall and Cornwall College fail to win today, the series will be extended to a third game, which is tentatively set for next week Monday afternoon, at the same venue.

In their contest against Mannings, Cornwall started like a house on fire, winning the first quarter 30-12. Their dominance continued into the second quarter, which they won 23-10 to establish a commanding 53-22 half-time lead.

Lose steam

In the third quarter, Cornwall College steadily began to lose steam and Mannings took over, winning the quarter 16-9 to enter the final quarter with the momentum in their favour, despite trailing 62-38. Mannings played a brilliant final quarter, which they won 23-8, but their effort was just not enough to stop Cornwall taking the contest 70-61.

"After we established a comfortable lead in the first two quarters we decided to basically sit back and take a good look at what Mannings had to offer," said Cornwall College's coach, Sheldon Pearson. "We saw nothing to be worried about, so we are expecting to end this series with a game-two win."

Christopher Smith was the outstanding player for Cornwall College, copping an impressive 'triple double' with 25 points, 22 rebounds and 10 blocks. Alex McFarlane, with 10 points and 12 rebounds and John Jackson, 10 points and 10 steals, also made decent contributions for Cornwall College.

Good players

For Mannings, Ruel Gordon emerged the top performer, scoring 18 points and grabbing 11 rebounds. Adrian McCallum, with 18 points and 17 rebounds and Troy Reid, with 17 points, also contributed well.

"We played badly at the start and allowed Cornwall College to establish a commanding lead," said Ricardo Blair, the coach of Mannings. "Our approach will be different on Thursday, as we intend to win game two."

In the Under-16 match, Holland High won the first quarter 9-8, but the resolute Rhodes Hall stormed back to take the other three quarters by 12-10, 14-13 and 12-10 to seal their close and exciting two-point margin of victory.

"We did not play as well as we should because we were rushing the game," said Maurice Gayle, the assistant coach of Rhodes Hall. "However, in the dying moments of the game we were able to hold our own and that was good enough to give us victory."

Ewan Symester emerged the outstanding player for Rhodes Hall, scoring a game-high 27 points to overshadow both his teammates and the opponents. Okari Edwards, who got 15 points and Hugh Smith, eight, played well for Holland High.