Kwesi Mugisa, Staff Reporter
Jamaica's Mugabe Thomas rises high to stuff the ball over two St. Kitts/Nevis opponents in Caribbean Basketball Championships action at the National Indoor Sports Centre on Tuesday night. Jamaica won 114-56. - ANTHONY MINOTT/ FREELANCE PHOTOGRAPHER
JAMAICA'S CONFIDENT male and female teams demolished the opposition on day one of the Caribbean Basketball Championships with massive wins over St. Kitts/Nevis and the US Virgin Islands on Tuesday night at the National Indoor Sports Centre.
The women's team got things off to a fiery start when they scorched the US Virgin Islands 102-55, but perhaps even more impressive was the men's teams' 114-56 triumph over St. Kitts/Nevis.
Marland Dumont led the way with 19 points for a home team who soared and dunked their way over a much smaller St. Kitts/Nevis line-up, but Mugabe Thomas who had 14 points with limited minutes on the floor and St. Georges Slayers' Kali McCarthy, the only local league representative with 13 points off the bench, were equally impressive.
POUNDING
A 2-0 lead at the start of the game would be the only one for St. Kitts/Nevis as the Jamaicans quickly went to work pounding the ball inside against the less physically capable St. Kitts/Nevis.
Timely shooting by McCarthy, who was three-for-three from behind the arch, saw the Jamaicans soon push the lead to 50-29 with 4:04 minutes left in the second quarter.
By half-time they held a commanding 57-38 lead which St. Kitts/Nevis were in truth never going to recover from. With just a minute left to go in the third quarter, Jamaica were just two shy of 100 points at 98-49.
"They shot the ball very well and we were really just outsized today," said St. Kitts/Nevis coach Glen Phillip.
"We tried to make some adjustments but when you have a game like what Jamaica had it's always going to be difficult to get back in the game," he added.
For Jamaica's coach Julian Dunkley, the victory was an excellent way to start the tournament.
"You are always pleased when you can start out a tournament with a win, that's what we came out today for," he said.
"I am also pleased with the way our guys executed down the stretch because we could have just overpowered this team, but we stuck to our game plan and executed," he added.
For the women Sharon Wiles' 18 points saw the Jamaicans recover from an early 12-6 first quarter deficit, eventually blowing away the US Virgin Islands. After a close first quarter at 26-21, Jamaica went on to outscore them 26-14, 28-1, and 22-10 in the next three quarters. Captain Oberon Pitterson had 17 points while centre Simone Edwards scored 16 points, shooting 88 per cent from the field.
