-Rose is new three point shooting champ; Hamid retains dunk title
After losing to Linden for the past two years in the Junior All-Star game, Georgetown regained the Junior All-Star title when they defeated Linden 83-67 Friday night as the Wildfire Entertainment’s All-Star Basketball Weekend commenced at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.
The action commenced with the Senior three-point shootout and dunkout contest, in addition to the Junior All-Star game.
The evening’s feature event, between the Georgetown Junior All-Star team and Linden’s Junior All-Stars, was eagerly anticipated since it featured some widely recognised junior stars, such a Tyrone Hamid, Richard Mohandatt, Shelroy Thomas, Akeem Kanhai and Orin Rose.
However, the Junior All-Star game was more of a fundamental than flashy encounter.
Linden controlled the game in the first quarter, piloted by Kanhai and Rose, who had just won the three-point shootout and nailed an early three to advance Linden’s lead.
Meanwhile, Kanhai made dunking look simple as he made his team’s fast break’s count by stuffing it in the hole on two occasions in the first quarter.
Thomas and Yannick Dundas were pivotal to Georgetown’s offence in the first half and led their team to a 38-35 first half lead.
The Thomas-Dundas duo was on fire from three point range in the opening half and between them they netted five in the first half. Thomas drilled three, while Dundas was two from two in the second quarter.
By the start of the second half, Georgetown continued to press on both ends of the court and never looked back as they went on to take the 16-point win.
Thomas was George-town’s leading scorer with 32 points. He also picked up six steals, while Hamid supported with 18 points, 10 rebounds and four blocked shots.
Further assistance in Georgetown’s line-up came from Mohandatt, who contributed 11 points and seven steals.
Linden’s Kanhai ended the game with 27 points, five steals and four blocks, while Rose added 14 points and grabbed 10 rebounds.
Along with Linden’s title loss, another title was stripped from the grasp of its holder and a new three-point shootout champion was crowned.
This year it was Rose whose accuracy from beyond the arc enabled him to wear the crown of three-point champion. Rose ousted three-time three-point shootout defending champion, Stephon Gillis in the final of the three-point shootout, which raised the curtain for the eventful All-Star weekend.
In the Senior Dunkout contest that followed, defending champion, Hamid retained his title with ease against his lone challenger, Linden’s Quincy Jones. Hamid, who has dominated local dunking competitions in recent years, was circling the court unchallenged for minutes, until Jones dared to step to the challenge, but was easily disposed of.
Jones’ flashy, but mostly failed attempts failed to captivate both the fans and the judges, while Hamid, after some unsuccesful attempts of some difficult dunks, closed down the show with a ‘Windmill’ picked from the hands of an assistant.
