By Neto Baptiste
Spanish Heat 2 and Fearless Crew were winners in Division 2 of the Antigua and Barbuda Basketball Association (ABBA) competition on Monday as they both got off to winning starts in the competition.
Playing at the JSC basketball complex, Spanish Heat had the better of Court Marshals by seven points, winning the contest by an 88-81 margin.
The lead switched hands on several occasions throughout the contest with Court Marshals taking the first quarter by a 20-14 margin. Spanish Heat rebounded to outscore their opponents 26-20 in the second quarter but were outscored 25-10 in the third. Court Marshals then took the fourth and final quarter 31-23 but it was not enough to get them the desired victory.
Jesus Emmanuel led the scoring for Spanish Heat with a game high of 40 points while also grabbing 13 rebounds. Rohland Hamilton contributed with 16 points and 16 rebounds and Gabriel Perez sank 11 points.
In a losing effort, Baldwin Anthony led Court Marshals’ scoring with 21 points while grabbing 13 rebounds. Leon Josiah contributed with 15 points off the bench while De-Lornge Jules added 14 points and picked up eight rebounds in the losing effort.
Also in Division 2, Fearless Crew had the better of Ottos Clippers by a 48-41 margin.
Fearless Crew dominated three of the four quarters’ contest, claiming the first by a 15-7 margin before Clippers outshot their opponents 13-9 in the second. Fearless Crew outscored Clippers by the slimmest of margins to win the third quarter 16-15 and then taking the fourth quarter 8-6.
Rafiki Harris top scored for Fearless Crew off the bench with eight points, while Ryan Shepherd and Najee Simon both had seven points. Amare Browne sank a game high of 17 points and pulled 17 rebounds in a losing effort for Ottos Clippers.