Kwakwani are NSBF Champion of Champions

By Floyd Christie
Kwakwani Secondary swept three titles in the National Schools Basketball Festival (NSBF) finals Monday night at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall to take the title of  2010 NSBF Champion of Champions.

Kwakwani’s under-16 and under-18 teams pose with their championship trophy and replicas Sunday night at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall. (Orlando Charles photo)

Kwakwani took away the under-16 title from St. Stanislaus when their game ended 58-54 and bagged the under-18 title when they thrashed Marian Academy 75-50.
They then clashed with the champions of the Open Category, Linden Foundation, when the two basketball powerhouses met in the Champion of Champions match-up to determine the NSBF National Champion.

Kwakwani won that battle with Linden Foundation 52-46 but not before having to claw their way back into the game. They came back with a vengeance to bring the scores within one point at half-time after an early Linden Foundation onslaught had them trailing by 10 plus points for most of the first half which ended 26-25.

The Kwakwani supporters, making up the majority of  fans in attendance, amplified the noise level in the Sports Hall by clashing empty soda bottles together as they chanted ‘Defence’ and distracted the Linden Foundations players when they stepped to the free throw line.

The bottles sounded louder than World Cup vuvuzelas and added to the already tense ambiance of the Sports Hall and fuelled the Kwakwani team to grab the lead for the first time two minutes into the second half. However, they weren’t allowed to stray far and swiftly lost their position ahead on the scoreboard.

Kwakwani’s rising star on the court, Dominque Douglas aided his team in seizing the lead once more with a flashy round the back pass and a quick release shot from downtown at the side of the arc. The teams began to trade baskets, interchanging the lead between the two rivals.

Linden’s Linden Fraser, the MVP of the recent NSBF All-Star game, and Douglas, who is himself an NSBF All-Star,  went head-to-head, single-handedly taking on their opponents on both sides of the court.

It was Douglas versus Fraser but Douglas was more aggressive and successful when going to the hole and came out on top of the rivalry. But Linden Foundation was not going down like Kwakwani’s previous opponents.

Fraser came up big for his team in the latter stages of the second half with some crucial blocks in the paint, but Kwakwani took advantage of some open looks from outside and netted two from downtown to increase their lead and make it unreachable in the finals seconds.

Kwakwani’s Dave Plass worked his way around defenders on the inside to stack 23 points, while Douglas contributed 14. Jeffrey Rose led in points for Linden Foundation with 19 and Fraser copped a double-double with 13 points and 14 rebounds.

At the presentation ceremony following the game, MVP awards were presented to Saints’ Lorenzo Bethune in the under-16 category, Linden Fraser for his superb performance in the Open category while Dave Plass and Dominque Douglas shared the award in the under-18 category.

Major sponsors of this year’s fifth annual NSBF, Banks DIH and Digicel were also commended for their hefty contributions to the tournament’s success.