KC bag U-14 title

Adrian Frater, News Editor

Western Bureau:

Kingston College (KC) crowned themselves national Under-14 basketball champions last Saturday when they clipped Ardenne High School 21-20 in the final of the six-team all-island high-school play-offs, which was staged at the Montego Bay Cricket Club Courts, in St James.

"A group of us as old students has decided to work together towards the rebuilding of the basketball programme at KC, and this is the product of that effort," said Marland Nattie, the coach of the KC team. "Once we start getting good results at this level, it means we now have a foundation to build on for the future."

On their way to the final, which featured two zones of three teams each, the victorious KC, the reigning southern conference champions, topped Zone A with 42-20 and 51-22 wins over western conference finalists Muschett High and central champions Glenmuir High.

In securing their place in the final, the Ardenne aggregation, which finished second to KC in the southern conference, secured their place after brushing aside western conference champions Herbert Morrison High School 57-15 and central conference finalists Knox College 30-22 to top Zone B.

In the third-pace play-off, which preceded the final, Glenmuir upstaged Herbert Morrison 44-25.

In the final, KC started out well by winning the first two quarters by identical 4-2 margins. The third quarter, which was a ding-dong battle, ended 4-4, while in the final quarter, Ardenne all but stole the show by winning it by a 12-9 margin.

Jamie Brown, with seven points; and Jakeem Robinson, who had four points and six rebounds, were the top players for KC, while Timothy Wesley and Patrick Watson, who both scored eight points, were valiant in Ardenne's losing effort.