Catherine All Stars cop title in fine style

Adrian Frater, News Editor

Western Bureau:

Catherine Hall All Stars emerged champions of the 2011 Flow Western Basket-ball Association (WBA) championship on Saturday night when they defeated Granville Jaguars 66-60 in game three at the Montego Bay Cricket Club Courts to win the best-of-three finals by a 2-1 margin.

"We played quite well in winning game one but let ourselves down by playing badly in game two," said Gayon Malcolm, the captain of the victorious All Stars team. "Tonight we got our act together and got the result we wanted so it is now time to go home and celebrate."

The game, which promised much excitement but only delivered in spurts, saw the exciting All Stars dominating the early exchanges and looking rather ominous. They easily won the first quarter 13-5 as the Jaguars struggled to get a grip on the game.

In the second quarter, the Jaguars, behind silky-smooth passing from Douglas Powell rebounded solidly and had the All Stars on the run with their fast and furious pace, which saw them taking the quarter 18-11 to reduce All Stars' lead at the half-time break to a slim 24-23 margin.

Jaguars continued to look sharp in the third quarter as the lanky Leroy Lawrence and the solid Huwayne Blake joined Powell in putting pressure on the All Stars teams. In fact, they managed to wrestle the lead from All Stars as in winning the quarter 22-15, they established a 45-39 lead going into the final quarter.

With Jaguars showing signs of fatigue in the final quarter and All Stars looking energised, the latter regained control of the game with Malcolm and Jermaine Rerrie driving their attack. After trading the lead with Jaguars on several occasions, they took charge down the home straight to win the quarter 27-15, which gave them their six-point margin of victory.

"We gave it all we had tonight but we fell short," said Jaguars' star player Leroy Lawrence. "We are disappointed with the final result ... we just want to go home and rest ... it was a long tough season."

Malcolm, who finished with a game-high 26 points, was the outstanding player for All Stars while solid support came from Marvin Powell and Jermaine Reerie, who finished with 15 points and 15 rebounds respectively. Dave Black, with 12 points and 12 rebounds; Lawrence, 15 points; and Ivaughn Lee and Huwayne Blake, with 10 points each, played well in Jaguars attempt to win the championship.