A wounded warrior still has the potential to be a dangerous foe.
Urban Vybz St John’s Sonics found that out the hard way on Tuesday night.
Fresh from defeating the previously unbeaten Cougars, Sonics were surprisingly downed by a struggling Warriors side 63-59, when action in the Barbados Amateur Basketball Association’s Premier League continued at the YMCA.
What makes the victory that more shocking is the fact that Warriors (3-3) achieved the feat without the services of their leading scorer Kareem Farrell, who did not suit up for the contest.
In his absence, six-foot seven-inch centre Nicholai Williams proved to be too much for his undersized defenders as he scorched St John’s for a game-high 25 points, including ten of his team’s 19 fourth quarter points, while also grabbing nine rebounds.
On the other hand, Williams’ opposite number and Sonics’ star player Akeem Marsh, was kept relatively quiet, being held to just four first-half points and 13 overall.
Despite his struggles, Sonics still led at the end of the first quarter (15-12) and the halfway mark (32-28) thanks to the efforts of swingman Ramon Simmons and point guard Rahiim Gibbons.
But with Sonics struggling to find an offensive rhythm in the ensuing half, Williams single-handedly took over the contest, using his height and size to good effect against his shorter defenders.
So much did Warriors rely on his efforts that he was their lone double digit scorer with the next highest output coming from Daniel Durant, who scored nine points.
In addition, the Dayrells Road-based side took just four three-point attempts in the entire game, opting instead to lay the ball off to Williams in the low post.
By the end of the third quarter, they had transformed a four-point deficit into a three-point lead (44-41), and despite a valiant effort from Simmons, who ended with 23 points, Warriors still managed to escape with the narrow win.
The loss dropped the new-look Sonics’ record to 5-2, with their only other loss coming at the hands of Lumber Company Lakers, the only unbeaten side in the league.
In the night’s first game, Pinelands moved their record to .500 as they easily dispatched Challengers 74-62.
Pinelands (3-3) were led by new acquisition Jeremy Gill, who poured in a game-high 34 points, which included scoring five of his seven three-point attempts as Challengers failed to contain the prolific scoring guard.
Gill exploded for 13 first-quarter points to help Pinelands rush out to an early 25-18 advantage, a position from which their opponents never recovered.
The game was almost as good as over by half-time, at which point the lead had grown to 22 (46-24).
Challengers (4-2) owed their eventual points tally to Alwyn Lovell, who topscored with 24 points, while Neil Patrick added 14 points and pulled down nine boards. (RB)
