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Three-peat champions, the YMCA Capita Finance Wildcats.

YMCA Wildcats cop Summer Jam title

 

THE three-peat crown resides on the mantle of the YMCA Capita Finance Wildcats after a tense and exciting battle against the Burger King Clapham Bulls, which went down to the final 7.4 seconds of the game before Zachary Cave won it for the Cats.
 
The three-point win for the Wildcats handed them their third straight crown, but this title was the most challenging to win says Coach Adrian Craigwell. Craigwell stated that the guys had been training all year round, but the competition this year had been outstanding and the fight for the victory and crown had been a tough one, especially with key player Nikolai Burton unavailable.
 
This was a final to remember for the revamped Barbados Amateur Basketball Association’s Under-19 Summer Jam competition, which was played at the Barbados Community College. The two teams went at it with neither making a significant run till the final two minutes of the game. Premier Division player Joel Hunte got the Cats off to a decent start, attacking the defence and getting to the free throw line easily. When Hunte drew the defence, he also had the court awareness to dish to his teammates for easy buckets. His start however was matched by Andrew Ifill of Clapham, who scored 6 first quarter points to keep the game close as the first quarter ended 16-14 with the advantage to the Cats.
 
The second quarter saw another Wildcats player step up to the plate. Joshua Lowe scored six of his 10 points in the period and took up the battle of making baskets, while Ifill continued to score from the other end. Ifill had an eight-point second quarter to help the Bulls tie the game going into the half-time break with the score locked at 35 apiece.
 
With the first half being so competitive, the hope was that the second half would be as good or better. The youngsters did not disappoint. Hunte had a quiet second quarter, but the half-time break seemed to have given him some renewed wind in his sails and like a true wildcat, he became a predator at the top of the food chain. He scored from all areas on the offensive end, layups strong to the ring, jumpers from the wings and also from the charity stripe and ended with 13 of his 25 points in the third. Once again the Bulls were up to the task and were not taking the assault lying down. Though they could not stem the tide of points flowing from Hunte’s fingertips, they had a weapon of their own.
 
Shaquan Newton sauntered into the fray and immediately began to wreak havoc on the confident Wildcats defence. Newton took them to task and reminded them why he was one of the top scorers in the tournament so far. He scored an easy 14 points in the third quarter, cancelling out the barrage from Hunte. It was the best scoring quarter for both teams, but the game was almost over with one quarter to play and the Bulls were up by two (60-58).
 
The last period of the match was all but a letdown with Hunte and Ifill continuing to score. The Cats took a four-point lead with 2:58 left in the game. Newton hit a trey from the wing and Shaquan Carrington scored two, helping the Bulls to a 5-0 run. The Cats called a time-out to talk it over with 49.6 seconds left on the clock. Out of the time out, Wildcats’ Zachary Cave and Shaquan Carrington traded baskets and with the clock at 7.6 seconds the score was tied at 78. Cave was having an outstanding game so far, but it was not more than with seconds left when Bulls failed to box him out on a free throw, he took down the offensive board for a put back and the foul. He was injured on the play and had to be escorted off the court, but Gavin Howard came in to replace him and scored the free throw to put the Cats up by three. 
 
Bulls had one final attempt, but the three-pointer was blocked and the clock ran out. It was a valiant effort on their part, but in the end the Wildcats were crowned winners of the 2016 Under-19 Summer Jam competition. 
 
Points came from a multitude of players for the two teams. For the Cats, Joel Hunte top-scored with 25 points, Cave finished with 16, Alec Green had 11 and Lowe and Theo Greenidge put up 10 each. Newton was the game-high scorer with 27 points, Ifill finished with 22 while Carrington and Matayas Kola each had 10.

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