Young Legs' Ronnie 'Gola' Simmonds right, tries to get past All Ah We's Relston 'Rellie' Farrington during Saturday night's second game at the Old Recreation Grounds temporary court

Underdogs force deciding games in Hoops Xplosion Tournament

BY DEAN GREENAWAY

When the best of three Hoops Xplosion Tournament Championships series opened a week ago Friday at the Old Recreation Grounds basketball court, assistant tournament coordinator Lindell ‘Eraser’ DeFretias thought the series would end by Saturday.

DeFrietas said in the opening games, there was an indication there would be sweeps of the respective series. “But the following night was a different story,” he noted. “The other teams came out really hard and evened the series.”

Both A and B division championships were decided late Wednesday night after rains interrupted Sunday’s finale. No results were available as of press time.

Underdogs All Ah We opened Saturday night’s second game in the best of three series by reeling off 19 straight points, after losing Friday night’s opener to defending champs Young Legs 78-68. Young Legs who opened the tournament 0-2 came were flat and out of synch from the onset. They blew scoring opportunities and contributed numerous turnovers before finally scoring with 7.3 seconds left in the first quarter, on a lay up by Ronnie ‘Gola’ Simmonds. They trailed 19-2 at the end of the first quarter.
Young Legs outscored All Ah We 22-14 and pulled within 35-24 at halftime, as Simmonds scored 13 of his game high 27 points in the second quarter during their only run of the evening. All Ah We racked up a second half 40-25 scoring edge for a 75-49 victory. Chaurbin Smith led All Ah We with 21 points.  Avery Percival added a 14 point 10 rebound double. Terry Turnbull added another 10 points.

Simmonds scored 24 points and dished out 12 assists in the opening 78-68 victory over All Ah We, who got 23 points from Jahmal Rabsatt.
In the ‘B’ division series, Run It Red got 19 points from Reynaldo ‘Crossover’ Smith and Jamal Todman respectively, to beat Dutty Dawgs 61-50 victory to even the series after losing the opener 71-65 in overtime. Marlon Meyers finished with 10 points 0 rebound double double.
Mckenzie Baltimore who led Dutty Dawgs in the first game with 19 points, carried the load in the second game with 13 points. Nathaniel Malone added another 12 points.