By Carlena Knight
A number of winners were crowned over the weekend at the Night of Champions event put on by the Basketball Unit within the Ministry of Sports.
The event is the first of its kind put on by Inter-School Coordinator Carl ‘Bowlie’ Knight and his team and saw six finals being played on one night in the Mini-boys Primary, Mini-girls Primary, Mini-boys Secondary, Junior Boys, Senior Girls and Senior Boys categories.
It was an exciting day of games on Sunday at the JSC Sports Complex as the nation’s junior ballers put on a great display in the respective finals.
Cedar Grove Primary were named double champions in the Mini-girls and Mini-boys Primary divisions.
The Mini-girls teams defeated Villa Primary, 8-4 in the first match of the day with J’Kayla Bellot leading the charge with six points.
Villa’s Jenair Pascal had four points in a losing effort.
Bellot was named the Zone B and overall MVP while Pascal was the Zone A MVP.
TN Kirnon finished third in that division.
It was a tough battle for the Mini-boys title, as the encounter even went into overtime but Cedar Grove Primary would once again come out on the winning end, edging out TN Kirnon Primary, 4-2.
Kerani White and Jervonte Valerie both scored two points for the victors while Kenyata Thomas scored two points in a losing effort.
White was later adjudged the Overall MVP while his teammate, Fabian Johnson, was named the MVP for the regular season in Zone A.
Delroy Francis of TN Kirnon was the Zone B MVP.
Villa Primary finished third in that category.
Meanwhile in the Mini-boys Secondary section, St Joseph’s ended their campaign undefeated to hoist the title.
They defeated rivals, Antigua Grammar School (AGS) 22-16 in the finals on Sunday.
Iczjaire Sebastian led his team with 12 points and was later named the MVP.
He was assisted by Syr Daniel Browne who made six while for AGS, Joshua Joseph and Jordan Lee both scored four points.
First-timers, Sir Novelle Richards Academy finished third.
AGS also suffered a defeat in the Junior Boys finals.
They went under 38-23 to Clare Hall Secondary School.
MVP, Orion Seraphin led the boys in blue to their title with 10 points. Aiden Christian banked nine and Kevin Pimental, seven.
Najee Simmons had 10 points and Naeem Joseph, seven for the Semper Virens.
Princess Margaret School (PMS) took home the third-place spot in this category.
All Saints Secondary School (ASSS) finished their season with a perfect record as well, edging out Combined 29-27 in overtime in the Senior Girls division.
Tiquesha Charles top scored with nine points for the ladies in purple with assistance from Kinisha James who made eight and Shakorah Prince, seven.
Alyssa Jardine had a game high 11 points and Jenah Andrew, nine.
James would later receive the awards for MVP and Female Player of the year.
PMS finished third in this division.
Meanwhile, in the Senior Boys section, PMS walked away with that title, defeating CHSS, 59-48 in the final encounter of the night.
Michael Ainsworth top scored with 18 points.
His teammate, Craig Massiah who was named the MVP and Male Player of the Year assisted with 17.
Tyrese White also got in on the action banking 14.
While for CHSS, Orion Seraphin had 16 points, Azandy Thomas, 15 and Kevin Pimental, 11.
In the other award of the night, Cedric ‘Supa’ David was named Coach of the Year.
David coaches Cedar Grove Primary, Villa Primary, TN Kirnon Primary and PMS, all of which either won or placed in the top three in five of the six divisions.
