Police maul Tacarigua in eastern b-ball

The first round of knock-out action in the First and Second Divisions of the Eastern Community Basketball League recently ended with three matches at the Maloney Indoor Sport Facility. In the Second Division match-up between Park Royal and Valencia Heat, a match-high 22 points from Anderson Belfon and a supporting 14 points from Donald Joseph helped Park Royal to a 64-56 win. The Heat trio of Fabrice Fisher, who led his team with 13 points, Keegan Garcia and Sylvester Thomas who both scored 11, could not prevent the inevitable and saw their team go down at the final whistle. Clico Pioneers, keen on a place in the quarter-finals, brought their a game to the court and beat TSTT 79-58 despite TSTT’s Elgin Ferris scoring a match-high 26 points and Dale Marshall putting in 13. Pioneers’ Masimba Dopson scored 25, one less than the match-high total, and Timothy Reid contributed 15 to help them surge to the win. The Police First Division team was particularly aggressive in their pursuit of the 91-66 win over Tacarigua Ball Players with Miguel Lezama scoring a match-high 23 points and taking 16 rebounds. Ronald Martin scored 22 points and 13 rebounds and Floyd Lashley put in 17 points and secured 13 rebounds for the winners.

The following day featured two women’s league matches. The first between Brian Chase Academy and Malick Tigers ended 62-53 in the Academy’s favour but Tigers’ Philamena George put in 20 points to distinguish herself. Affeisha Noel and Kathy Ann King were on George’s heels scoring 19 a piece. Noel took 13 rebounds, King secured six rebounds, gave six assists and snatched five steals and Nikisha Cropper scored 15 points and took seven rebounds and two steals. For Tigers, Crystal George and Crystal Kirton scored 14 and 10 respectively. Home team, UTC Maloney Pacers women did not disappoint those gathered as they scored a 57-41 victory over the Police women’s team. Melissa Guerero was particularly entertaining with a match-high 20 points and along with Carol Ann Granger helped Pacers to the win. Police players Peggy Ann Brown led her team scoring 13 points and taking five  rebounds and four steals; while Joniel Hepburn scored eight and took 13 rebounds but they were unfortunate not to take a win off the court.