It didn’t take long for Combermere to install themselves as favourites.
The title pretenders of a year ago don’t look like they’re faking now, as Jimal Singh scored a game-high 25 points, including 12 during a decisive 20-7 third-quarter run, to lead Cawmere to a 69-46 rout of visiting Harrison College in their United Insurance Schools Basketball opener yesterday.
The 23-point blowout on their Waterford hard court was the stunning result to a much-hyped matchup of two Final Four hopefuls bolstered by a long list of stars.
But the hosts quickly turned the contest into a one-sided affair, scoring six unanswered points to open the game as part of a quick 9-2 start before going up by as many as 15 (33-16) by the half-time intermission.
And Singh wasted no time putting away the listless “Kolij” side after opening the second half with a pair of deep treys and an open court lay-up to stretch the advantage to 24 (47-23).
He wasn’t done yet either, getting out in transition for two more uncontested scores in an open court romp that put “Cawmere” up by as much 32 points (55-23), all while the visitors meekly folded in a lop-sided third quarter.
It was a rather unexpected outcome after Harrison College managed to show signs of life by rallying from an initial 2-9 deficit to pull within two points on a couple of baskets from point guard Anand Joseph-Thorne.
However, the hosts simply responded by scoring nine of the next 11 points to close the half, with Tionne Bostic hitting a huge triple to end HC’s run before Jamario Clarke added some easy baskets underneath.
The lead then became a 33-16 cushion when Combermere had six unanswered points to start the second quarter on a surge started by an unlikely fast-break basket from Dorian Browne and capped by a long Singh jumper.
But the best of Singh was yet to come.
With “Kolij” all but reeling, the speedy off-guard exploded in the open court and off the secondary break, sinking two triples before finding Lamar Coward and David King free for lay-ups to put the home side up 49-23.
Singh added two lay-ups of his own as the visitors failed to get back against a fast-paced Combermere team clearly looking to knock them right out of the contest.
Harrison College did manage a rally of sorts in the ensuing fourth, though, creating a number of turnovers by employing full-court pressure that led to uncontested baskets for Nikolai Burton and Runako Boyce.
However, they never got any closer than 19 points the rest of the way, with Joseph-Thorne failing to sink any of his subsequent runners, while Singh hit another long jumper to end the threat and Clarke added a tough “and-one” finish for good measure.
Clarke and Bostic finished with 12 and ten points, respectively, while Joseph-Thorne was the lone Harrison College player in double digits with 13.
At the Eyrie, reigning league champs Barbados Community College opened their account with an 81-29 whipping of Foundation before former kings Queen’s College cruised to a 49-31 away victory over The Lodge.