Close, but no cigar.
The schoolboys almost chalked up another one until Andre Pierre hit two go-ahead treys in the dying moments of Pan American International Insurance Warrens’ 79-74 victory in Tuesday’s Co-operators General Insurance Basketball Premier League at the Wildey Gym.
It proved a tough finish for an otherwise encouraging start to the season for the upstart Tridents, who’ve already registered two big upsets including Sunday’s three-point thriller over title contenders Warriors.
And they seemed certain of adding Warrens to the list after Rasheed Maynard hit the last of his five triples to give the schoolboys a late two-score lead (70-66).
He even returned to score a go-ahead basket on a lefty layup (72-71) when Warrens went back up by one following Greig Springer’s spin move and a three-pointer from Manuel Alleng.
Had final say
But Pierre had the final say, making the inexperienced schoolboys pay for leaving him open on two possessions too many.
The lanky swingman first hit a trey from the left wing before taking advantage of David Walkes needlessly overrating to Dario Cumberbatch to drill another one from the top of the arc (77-74).
Yet Tridents had their chances, as Maynard missed a tough floater while Deveron Knight couldn’t convert off the ensuing offence glass.
Warrens still left the door open after Alleng was forced into a heavily-contested trey but the smaller schoolboys just couldn’t come up with the defensive rebound.
It was the cap to a third straight victory for a suddenly hot Warrens side that quickly fell behind 10-2 on triples from Walkes and Rachad Hall.
However, Tridents couldn’t cope with Pearson Griffith in the paint as the burly six-foot-ten centre scored easily on an array of deep seals and post-ups.
Alleng and reserve guard Antone Lawrence then proved the perfect complements by knocking down open shots to spread the floor for Griffith underneath.
Neither side led by more than seven for the rest of the way in a contest that featured several lead changes.
Missed out
Griffith and Alleng led Warrens (3-3) with 15 points apiece and Pierre and Lawrence both scored 11 off the bench.
Maynard had a game-high 24 points for Tridents (2-3), Walkes scored 11 and Deroni Hurley barely missed out on a triple-double with eight points, eight rebounds and ten assists.
In the night cap, Hilton Barbados Warriors closed the game on a lead-changing 30-14 run over the final eight minutes to beat Burger King Clapham Bulls 80-68.
Trailing 54-50, Warriors took over the game by scoring ten unanswered points via layups from Justin Pile and Kareem “Figs” Farrell and a pair of Nicholai Williams free throws.
Pile then returned for an “and-one” finish at the rim before Ricardo “Aru” Toussaint capped the run with a couple jumpers.
Toussaint finished with 27 points and 11 boards and Pile also scored 27 for Warriors (3-2).
Kelan Phillips led Clapham (1-5) with 18 points, Sean Parris added 12 points and 13 rebounds and Andrew Ifill also scored 12 points.
