Both Lumber Company Lakers and Roll-Away St Johns Sonics had a point to prove on Saturday night.
The Lakers proved that they were still the team to beat and the Sonics that they could, well, roll over.
The defending champions notched their second consecutive victory, and eighth of the season, thumping the Sonics 65-48 at the YMCA, when action in the Barbados Amateur Basketball Association’s Premier League Competition continued.
It wasn’t the same dominant offensive performance which saw them score a season-high 109 points in their 49-point rout of Senators in their previous game, with their 65-point output being their second lowest total of the season, but it was more than enough to propel them back to the top of the table with a league-best 8-1 record.
Sonics, on the other hand, failed in their bid to assert themselves as true title contenders. With key players Jefferson Trotman and Akeem Marsh disappearing for most of the game and the usually reliable Stefan Clarke struggling to hit a shot, Sonics were ineffective during their offensive sets.
And after holding a 16-13 lead at the end of the first quarter, thanks mainly to the Lakers ruining at least six lay-ups in the opening period, Sonics’ offensive rhythm disappeared.
With Lakers’ sharp-shooter Keefe Birkett also having an off night, Andre Boadu provided a much-needed spark.
First, he outfoxed Marsh with a nifty spin move to the basket that brought a roar from the small crowd on hand, before tapping in the rebound from Ian Alexander’s missed shot on the next possession to tie the game at 19 with 6:58 to go in the second quarter.
Lakers’ Mark Bridgeman and Marsh then split their shots at the charity stripe, before Bridgeman gave Lakers the lead for good (22-20), when he hit a jumper from the top of the key.
He followed that up with a baseline jumper, with Matthew Moore getting in on the action, hitting a jumper of his own, as Lakers stretched the lead to six (26-20) with 5:02 on the clock.
Sonics’ next basket didn’t come until more than two minutes later, with Yarde’s driving lay-up breaking an almost five-minute drought, as they went into the half trailing 33-24.
After Alexander and teammate Omari Corbin collided while trying to block another Yarde lay-up. It resulted in a five-minute break as both players lay on the ground in discomfort.
But once they got back on their feet, it was business as usual for the Lakers, with Birkett’s only basket of the game and Ormond Haynes’ lay-up extending their lead to double digits (45-35).
That was as close as Sonics would get as the lead grew to 21 (60-39) with 3:53 left in the game, with Sonics’ record dropping to 5-3, still maintaining their fourth place position.
Boadu and Alexander led the Lakers with 11 points each, while Trotman scored 12 and Marsh ten in a losing cause.
In the night’s first game, led by a game-high 19 points from Charles Vanderpool, Pinelands defeated Senators 68-61.
