Kiev Chesney recorded a tournament high of 38 points along with 11 assists, 10 rebounds and five steals to lead Queen’s College (QC) to their tenth victory in the Guyana Secondary Schools Basketball Association league yesterday.
QC came up against a fierce, young squad from School of the Nations that has progressed throughout the tournament. Nations got maximum productivity from a fearless Terrence Patton who scored 24 points on the offensive end of the court.
QC dominated in the first half scoring 47 points while Nations scored 26. QC recovered many steals in Nations’ backcourt; the majority of which were forced by their small forward Ryburn Weever. Weever ended with 11 steals to accompany his 16 points for a double-double. His steals were received by the six-foot, five-inch Chesney who converted two emphatic fast-break dunks on the Nations defenders to loud applause in the first half.
In the second half Nations scored 30 points by utilizing their bench to fatigue the five-man QC squad and played as though their lives were at stake. However, Chesney switched on again and added to his 22 first half points by scoring 10 consecutive second half points to stifle all attempts of a Nations comeback.
In the first game of the day, Cummings Lodge gained their 13th win by silencing Central High and junior All-star point guard Travis Burnette 32-36. After leading 21-14 at half-time, Cummings Lodge pulled away in the second half and led by as much as 12 points late in the game. However, shooting guard Jamal Thompson and Travis Burnette tried relentlessly to avoid their inevitable defeat and managed to cut the lead to six at the end of regulations.
In the final game of the day, Tutorial High took advantage of St Stanislaus College in a 67-17 game in the absence of their ball handler Jamal Scott and primary scorer Don Johnson. Michael Thompson recorded his best scoring performance of the tournament with 31 points to go along with 7 steals and 4 rebounds.
Former under-13 national cyclist Ron Tappin provided instant offence off the bench and was determined to score on every run down. He ended the game with 10 points, while Arun Singh and Ronald Jordan score eight and six points respectively for Saints.
Meanwhile, North Ruim-veldt gained a walk-over from Brickdam Secondary for their second win of the tournament. After a break today, the GSSBA will continue tomorrow with four exciting games.
