SOS, Pacers win invitational matches

STORIES of Success (SOS) had a fourth quarter surge to defeat Police (115-99) while Maloney Pacers led by Mohammed Elias got the better of Caledonia Clippers in the Men’s division of the National Invitational Championships, held by National Basketball Federation of TT, on Saturday, at the Maloney Indoor Sport Arena, Maloney.

Fabrice Fisher’s 41 points which was the top score on the evening allowed the lawmen to lead for the majority of the match until the end of the third quarter where they were down by one point at 80-81. Hot-hand Fisher, who was practically, unstoppable was assisted by Dextroy Manswell (21) and Ronel Winters 15 points. However, the youngsters of SOS found some renewed energy and switched gears in the fourth quarter, outscoring their opponents 34-19 to eventually win 115-99.

SOS recorded five players in double figures which attested to a total team effort. Top scorers were Ahkeel “Smally” Boyd (30 points), his twin brother Ahkeem “Fato”Boyd (23), Clint Graham (17), Kemrick Julien (13) and Moriba De Freitas (10).

A satisfied coach of SOS, Kern George said, “Playing police is always a physical game and they came out to play today. They have a lot of ‘Bigs’ who you have to keep up with also, their backcourt of Winter and Fisher were punishing us from behind the arc and in open court.” He continued, “Going into the fourth quarter with score 81-80 in our favour; we knew we had them and it was time for us to make our run which started off when our point guard “Smally”Boyd scored three consecutive three pointers. We tightened up on defence and focused on stops and scores. Any time you have five players scoring in double figures it makes it easier for you as a team.”

In the other match of the night, Maloney Pacers had a strong last quarter push scoring 33-17 in that period against Clippers to win by ten points at 86-76. Skipper of Pacers, “Boy Boy”Elias was the main destroyer with 32 points followed by Jael Lewis (14) and Kadeem Greig 11. Clippers had 20 points from Kirk Baptiste while Kurt “Koto’ Christian chipped in with 18 points and Shawn Lawrence added 15 points.