APPARENTLY NOT MUCH has changed for Cougars.
Akeem Marsh doesn’t look much different either.
Barbados’ best big man is already in midseason form, having scored 20 points in just three quarters to lead Urban Vybz St John’s Sonics to Tuesday’s 82-56 walkover over a listless Cougars in the Co-operators General Insurance Basketball Knockout opener at the Wildey Gymnasium.
It was like 2014 never ended, with last season’s leading scorer merely picking up from where he left off following his breakout performance with the national team.
And although the Gym provided new backboards, fresh rings and a different floor, basketball was simply treated to the same ole Cougars.
The team that lost their last three games a year ago by an average margin of 41 points didn’t take very long to re-enact last season’s performance as Sonics sprinted out to a quick 25-12 lead within a matter of ten minutes.
The prospects don’t look much brighter for the rest of the season either after starting shooting guard Godfrey Leacock left for Dover while a cloud of uncertainty looms over Adrian Stewart’s playing status.
But nothing proved as ominous as Marsh’s dominance over the proceedings, with the big man scoring from just about every part of the floor at will.
When he wasn’t knocking down long jumpers, the agile six-foot-nine forward engaged in an aerial assault on the ring after getting out in transition for some easy dunks including one impressive two-handed put-back.
Such was his explosiveness that Marsh even threatened to take down the new rings twice in one sequence, having spun off Ricardo Jemmott for a big throw-down before violently attacking the rim again with a two-handed flush off a steal at midcourt.
Not that Cougars didn’t show some signs of life early on, as former Senators and Warrens forward Neil Harewood and Jemmott briefly reduced the deficit to nine (25-16) early in the second quarter.
But they never truly threatened thereafter once Shane Whittaker ended the rally with a timely triple and lay-up that sandwiched the first of Marsh’s slams in transition.
Marsh added a pull-up jumper and lay-up to end the half (41-23), then went on that furious assault before back-to-back triples from Whittaker and Stefan Clarke (54-25) duly put an end to the contest.
Clarke added 15 points, Phillip Harewood scored 13 and Whittaker finished with 12 for Sonics while Jemmott led Cougars with 16 points.
Earlier, Daniel Lovell scored a game-high 23 points in his first game back with Burger King Clapham Bulls as the recently promoted club celebrated their Premier League return with a surprisingly hard-fought 67-58 win over Combined Schools Tridents.
It was a comeback day for most of Clapham actually, with the Bulls also welcoming the return of championship-winning head coach Barry Rock, who missed the last two seasons, as well as former juniors Sean Parris, Damian McClean, Ramon Byer and Stefan Yard.