Hoopers extend lead in Flow basketball league
MONTEGO BAY, St
James - Hoopers extended their lead at the top of the
Flow National Basketball League-West on Saturday after
beating Inner-city Avalanche 59-57 in a nail-baiting
finish at the Montego Bay Cricket Club in their
return-round game.
After scoring the game's first seven points, Hoopers
fell behind by as many as 10 points before a last-gasp
rally took them to their fifth straight win.
Hoopers lead the standings with maximum 10 points, three
more than Granville Jaguars; Catherine Hall All-Stars
and Inner-city Avalanche are next on six points, while
winless Sav Hawks are at the bottom with four points,
having lost all four games so far.
Hoopers' Marlon Comrie (right) tries to wrap up
Inner-city Avalanche's Oneil Clarke
in Saturday's NBL-West return-round game at the Montego
Bay Cricket Club.
Hoopers won 59-57. (Photo: Paul Reid)
Avalanche got of to a slow start and were down 0-7 with
just over five minutes to go before scoring their first
points.
The Galton Taylor-coached team that won just once going
into Saturday's match, however, took over the game
leading 16-14 after the first-quarter 33-25 at the
half-time break and 45-39 at the end of the third
quarter.
They led by as many as 10 points (43-33) in the third
with three minutes and 40 seconds to go, but a 6-2 run
at the end by Hoopers took them to within six points.
Hoopers maintained their momentum early in the fourth
quarter and came to within two points after a 6-0 burst
with just over six-and-a-half minutes to go in the game.
Either team lost a key player within a minute of each
other as Rayan Bolt of Hoopers and Oneil Clarke, who had
10 points and 10 rebounds for Avalanche, both fouled
out.
As they did in their come-from-behind win over Jaguars
two weeks prior, Hoopers kept their cool and, despite a
quick three-pointer from Avalanche's Michael Haughton to
give his team a five-point cushion at 55-50, they never
panicked.
Levar Rose, who led Hoopers with 13 points, responded
with a three-pointer of his own with one minute and 30
seconds to go; Omar Bell added two free throws, then
Marlon Comrie made one of two free throws, got his own
rebound on the missed second and converted it to give
Hoopers their first lead since the first-quarter at
58-57 with 32 seconds to go in the game. Daine Morris could have given Avalanche back the lead
but he missed two free throws with seven seconds to go.
Four Hoopers players got eight points - Bolt, Kemmar
Dean, Kenton Fraser and Neil Samuels, while Comrie had
six points and 11 rebounds.
Haughton led Avalanche with 28 points and six rebounds,
while Morgan got eight points and nine rebounds. By Paul Reid
Jamaica Observer
