KFC Orange 3 Pinelands may not be “so good” after all.
Andrew Ifill scored a game-winning layup at the buzzer, as Burger King Clapham Bulls sent the Pine reeling to another loss via Thursday’s 71-69 thriller in the Co-operators General Insurance Basketball Premier League at the Wildey Gymnasium.
It was Pinelands’ third defeat in their last five contests since injured national captain Jeremy Gill went down early in the season with a tight calf muscle.
And they barely avoided a fourth defeat in that span after trailing the schoolboys by as many as 22 points in the fourth quarter.
Yet no-one expected such a slide, considering that even in the absence of Gill and fellow starters Derion Hurley and Ramon Simmons, the star-studded side still boasts of three senior nationals.
But they certainly didn’t look like Barbados players, especially over the opening ten minutes when Pinelands managed all of 13 points in a dreadful first-quarter showing.
Somehow, they were even worse on the defensive end during a 23-13 Clapham run that transformed a one-possession game into a 61-49 Bulls advantage.
Holding on to a 38-36 lead, Clapham threatened to blow the game wide open on a slew of outside jumpers from Rahiim Gibbons.
At one point the national point guard looked as if he was on the floor by himself, seemingly unaffected by defenders trying to close out on his shot along the perimeter.
Gibbons drained successive triples and two more pull-up jumpers before making his defender pay for doubling off of him by drilling a third trey to beat the third-quarter buzzer.
However, Pinelands responded in kind in the ensuing fourth, as Zahir Motara knocked down a three-pointer of his own and Corey Nurse followed with a long jumper before Charles Vanderpool went to work in the paint.
The national forward accounted for seven straight points, including three as part of an “and-one” finish in which he went coast-to-coast for a tough layup (67-63).
Junior Moore added a layup too before Ian Alexander and Anthony Barrow scored on successive drives, capped by the latter’s clutch layup in transition that locked the scores at 69 with 15 seconds left.
But Ifill had the final say, taking a pass from Jae Harris and sweeping across the lane for a dramatic left-handed finish over the top of Vanderpool right before the horn.
Gibbons led Clapham (2-5) with 19 points, Ifill had 17, and Kelan Phillips added 16 points and nine rebounds.
For Pinelands, who fell to a 4-3 record, Vanderpool had 20 points, 11 rebounds and six assists, Motara scored 17 points and Moore finished with 14 points and 12 boards.
Earlier, Jamar “Spanner” Headley had 16 points in his first game of the season back from injury to lead Hilton Barbados Warriors to a 73-53 rout of St John’s Sonics.
Justin Pile scored 17 points for Warriors (4-3) and Ricardo “Aru” Toussaint added 12 points and 17 rebounds.
Jamar King and Romaine Lovell were the lone players in double digits for St John’s (1-6), with 20 and 12 points, respectively. (JM)
