Cummings Lodge Second-ary School rose to the challenge in the Georgetown conference final to defeat number-two seed Central High school 78-67 and be crowned Georgetown champions of the inaugural Guyana Secondary Schools Basketball Association’s (GSSBA) tournament.
Guiding them as he did all season was Bevon Spooner who took charge offensively to lead his team’s scoring with 28 points.
Spooner was his team’s answer for Travis Burnett who scored 20 of the 39 first half points for Central High.
The versatility of the Cummings Lodge team however, was once again displayed as usual power forward Travis Williams, who ended the game with 14 points, played at small forward while captain Keon Hayles played docile but effective at forward instead of his traditional point-guard role.
This allowed Spooner to orchestrate his team’s offence from the point guard position with explosive moves which penetrated Central’s zone defence.
Cummings Lodge still could not contain Burnett at the other end and would trail 38-39 at halftime.
Burnett continued to hurt the Cummings Lodge defence in the second half and managed to score even when double-teamed.
Although their advantage was slim, Central High School maintained a lead throughout the second half, but the determined Cummings Lodge guards would not let the lead expand to more than three points.
However, the Central High School’s tournament chances went down the drain when their ‘go-to’ player Burnett committed his fifth foul and had to watch the rest of the game from the sideline.
As the drama intensified, a disgruntled Burnett uttered a few foul words while exiting the court and his team was instantly charged with a technical foul.
The then trailing Cummings Lodge team then took the lead after they cashed in on a free throw and scored two points on the ensuing possession to take a 64-61 lead.
The Cummings Lodge offence was instantly revitalized by Burnett’s exiting of the game and went on an 18-6 run to close out Central.
Keon Hayles ended with 14 points for Cummings Lodge, while Jamal Thompson, who could not fulfil the role of the fouled-out Burnett, ended with 13 points for Central.
Queen’s College won the race for third place when they overcame St John’s College 41-31.
The QC matadors, forced the ball out of the hands of St John’s star point guard Keith ‘Bull’ Tute and took him out of the game early, leaving everything on the shoulders of forward Samuel Thompson.
Thompson was reliable in the post but could not connect when his shots were contested. After leading 20-10 at halftime, QC continued to benefit from fast break opportunities and comfortably eased to victory with Kiev Chesney and Ryburn Weaver leading the way with 17 and 11 points respectively.
Cummings Lodge will face Linden Technical Institute in the GSSBA grand finale, while Central High will take on Mackenzie High in the third place game on Thursday beginning at 1pm at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.
A day earlier at the same venue, the GSSBA will stage the much anticipated All-Star game which will bring together 12 players of each conference.
