48, 26, 35.
No, those aren’t the body measurements of Barbados’ next top model.
They’re actually the margins of victory by which Lumber Company Lakers have defeated their last three opponents, the latest victim being Patriots, who suffered a 104-69 thrashing on Thursday night during Premier League basketball action at the Wildey Gymnasium.
Since the start of the second round two weeks ago, Lakers have wasted little time in making their intentions clear by soundly whipping three of the league’s worst teams, putting themselves in good stead as they head into a crucial matchup against Pinelands.
It was always going to be a mammoth task for Patriots to avoid slumping to their seventh straight loss, and within minutes of the first quarter, the fat lady’s had begun to sing.
Through the efforts of Ricardo Jemmott, who hit his first three shots, Ormond Haynes and Ian Alexander, the Lakers raced out to an early ten-point lead (16-6), which grew to 16 points by the end of the quarter (25-9).
Despite a slightly better showing by the Husbands-based Patriots in the second quarter, led by guard Stevenson Callender who scored ten of his 14 points during this period, Lakers continued to stamp their dominance on the contest, with an Adrian Allman trey carrying the score to 51-26 with 3:45 remaining before the half.
A thunderous two-handed dunk by Jemmott would push the lead up to 30 points (64-34) with 6:40 to go, before a 9-0 run spearheaded by Patriots’ centre Omari Corbin brought some respectability back to the score.
Corbin was the lone spark in an otherwise dull offensive display by Patriots, as he proved unstoppable in the paint, even while being double and sometimes even triple teamed.
He exploded for 24 of his game high 32 points in the second quarter, as he muscled his way to the basket at will, all the while dominating the offensive glass, grabbing rebound after rebound.
The outcome was a forgone conclusion as Lakers headed into the final quarter with a 38-point lead (85-47) and a baseline jumper by Jamario Grazette with 1:17 left in the game gave Lakers the distinction of being the first side to score over 100 points in this season’s Premier League.
Andre Lockhart finished with 24 points, while Keefe Birkett scored 19, Jemmott had 16 and Alexander finished with ten.
In the night’s other game First Works Warriors jumped to the top of the standings when they edged Nicholls Baking Company Cougars 70-65.
Warriors almost let a 15-point lead at the half (40-25) slip away with a shoddy second-half performance, which saw Cougars take the lead with 5:25 to go (60-59) through a Godfrey Leacock layup.
However, some poor shot selections by Leacock, along with some crucial baskets by Warriors’ Tremaine Shaw, saw them eventually reclaim the lead and hold on for the win.
Corey McDonald and Shaw both led the way with 14 points for the winners, while Nicholai Williams had ten.
Leacock finished with a game high 23 points for Cougars, and Shawn Gaskin had 14.