Consider the message sent! Loud and clear.
Hilton Barbados Warriors made one hell of a statement, having led a loaded Orange 3 Pinelands by as many as 32 points in an 86-70 blowout during Thursday’s Co-operators General Insurance Basketball Premier League at the Wildey Gym.
It proved a real coming out party for the Dayrells Road men, who announced themselves as clear title contenders in the absence of injured star forward Jamar “Spanner” Headley and head coach Frederick Bynoe.
The two certainly weren’t missed, not even from the opening tip, as Warriors accounted for 19 of the game’s first 22 points before going up 67-35 on a 26-9 burst to start the second half.
At one point Warriors looked like they were on the court alone, particularly Justin Pile and Ricardo “Aru” Toussaint, who scored a series of uncontested layups and jumpers in that fast and furious 19-3 start.
Pinelands eventually went small by subbing out both national forwards Junior Moore and Charles Vanderpool, only to watch Nicholai Williams terrorise them on the offensive glass. Williams eventually rested, though, and the Pine took advantage through several second-chance points to pull within ten (34-24).
However, Justin Pile squashed the rally with a quick layup before Pile had an “and-one” finish and Williams threw in a short hook at the half-time buzzer (41-26).
Yet Pile was just getting started, opening the third quarter with six straight points by scoring off of an alley-oop, a deep trey and a backdoor reverse layup.
And that was only the beginning of that 26-9 run, as Shaquan and Daniel Durant got in on the three-point party with long-range bombs of their own. Durant wasn’t done there, though, freeing himself for a layup off a deft in-and-out dribble right after Toussaint’s short jumper put Warriors ahead by 32.
Pinelands did rally by scoring 18 points unanswered (67-53) in a five-minute span bridging the third and fourth quarters when Warriors struggled with turnovers.
Ramon Simmons started the run with four free throws to sandwich a Vanderpool basket, and then Zahir Motara had three quick triples to cut the deficit to just 12 (71-59). But Newton and Durant responded with successive jumpers before Tremaine Shaw drilled two pull-up jump shots of his own (84-63) to end the threat.
Pile finished with 26 points, ten rebounds and five assists, Newton scored 18 points and Durant added 15 points and 13 boards. Motara led the Pine with 14 points, eight rebounds and six assists, Derion Hurley had 13 points and 11 boards, and Ian Alexander scored 11.
Earlier, John Jones had his second straight 30-point performance to lead defending champs Lumber Company Lakers to an easy 89-62 rout of NexGen Combined Schools Tridents.
Jones led five Lakers in double digits with 30 points, 21 rebounds and five blocks, while fellow national forward Mark Bridgeman added 16 points, five rebounds and five assists in the victory. Rasheed Maynard top-scored for the schoolboys with 15 points and Kiserian Adams and Deroni Hurley had 13 apiece. (JM)
