Good thing there aren’t problems in Station Hill.
There wouldn’t be much room to fit them in among the mounting losses.
Stevenson Callender had a Premier League basketball career-best 27 points and the upstart Patriots led by as many as 15 in the fourth quarter before holding on to hand defending champs Mpact Station Hill Cavs a third straight defeat following Thursday’s 87-84 stunner at the Wildey Gym.
It was the slumping Cavs’ fifth loss in six games, matching the champs’ loss column of the whole of last season after just seven regular season appearances this year.
Station Hill were already expecting to lose Ricardo Yearwood for the year, following the suspension of the mercurial Cavs swingman for his well-publicised drop kick on Keith Mayers on Tuesday.
But the champs continue to claim that their only issues stem from a lack of practice. Well, that and a lack of wins.
And those victories haven’t even been coming against minnows Tridents, Cougars and Patriots, who are now a combined 3-0 against Station Hill.
However, the Husbands men might have a case against being included in that group.
Callender all but wrapped up Patriots’ first ever three-game winning streak and winning record (3-2) in the top flight after scoring the last of his 27 points to cap a decisive 16-3 fourth-quarter run.
It was the turning point of a close 69-67 contest that Callender and teammate Julian Walcott blew open via a series of uncontested layups in the open court.
And it wasn’t the first late-game charge Callender commanded, having scored five straight points to lead a threatening 7-0 run at the start of the fourth that broke a 60-all deadlock.
But it wasn’t until Walcott got involved with successive baskets that Patriots were finally able to get some breathing room, as Omari Corbin added a short jumper around three successive layups from Walcott and Callender to put them up 85-70 with a minute remaining.
Station Hill weren’t done just yet though, as Jason Smith and Andrew Alleyne hit four straight threes between them, while Kevin Sealy got a steal and layup to reduce the deficit to just 86-84 with 9.9 seconds to play.
However, Alleyne couldn’t add a fifth trey to force overtime, forcing a contested triple over an outstretched defender just before time expired.
Anthony “Bill” White assisted Callender with 18 points, Walcott finished with 15 and Corbin added ten points and 12 rebounds.
The overseas-based Marlon Bascombe led the Cavs with 16, while Alleyne, Kelvin Patterson and Corey Williams scored 12 points apiece. Alleyne added ten rebounds.
In the nightcap, Jeremy Gill had seven of his game-high 15 points over the game’s final 3:09 as part of a game-changing 12-3 run, and Act II Popcorn Clapham Bulls regained the league’s best record after beating First Works Warriors 67-56 in a top-of-the-table clash.
The win pushed Clapham (7-2) a half-game above Warriors (6-2), who saw their league-best six-game win streak snapped.
Neither side led by more than eight points in the sloppy, defensive tussle, but Clapham were in front for all but the game’s first five minutes.
But Bulls only managed to pull away late in the fourth following Gill’s spectacular “and-one” play at the ring. This was after Halley Franklyn protected Clapham’s lead with a huge chase-down block of a streaking Kirk Shaw.
Sean Parris, Rahiim Gibbons and Daniel Lovell each scored 12 points for Clapham, while Nicholai Williams had Warriors’ top score of 11.
