Tuesday, December 1, 2009
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Strikers upset the Crushers By SHELDON LONGLEY ~ NG Sports Editor ~ slongley@nasguard.com:
The St. Bede's Crushers were hoping for an undefeated season. They were hoping to sweep their toughest competitor this year, the St. Cecilia's Strikers, and they wanted to strike fear into the eyes of their opponents on their way to a second consecutive Catholic Primary Schools Basketball Championship.
Well, that all ceased yesterday with the upstart Strikers not backing down. All season the Crushers have been the overwhelming favorite, but yesterday the fearless Strikers kept fighting and it eventually paid off. They escaped with a 37-36 victory on their home court and now have all the confidence they need going into the remainder of the season and the playoffs.
"It feels good because we haven't beaten them in a long time and everyone always talking about 'Flash' and St. Bede's. Now what about St. Cecilia's," said Strikers' sixth grade guard Rayshano Spence. "We couldn't stop 'Flash' for anything in the fourth quarter but we just kept fighting and that's all our coach was telling us - to keep fighting until the bell sounds. We toughened up on our defense and all of a sudden their shots stopped falling. We feel great to come out with the win," he added enthusiastically.
Crushers' leading scorer Kyle 'Flash' Turnquest would not be denied at the start of the fourth quarter. He penetrated with ease through the porous defense of the Strikers. Turnquest scored four quick points and dished out two assists to help the Crushers build an eight-point lead early in the fourth. The Strikers didn't go away though. They tightened up on their defense on the Crushers' guard, forcing his team members to make shots. They couldn't, and the Strikers eventually pulled even at 29 on the strength of eight straight points. "Our intention was actually to keep him (Turnquest) in track for the entire game but he got loose and scored some baskets, but in the end we pulled it off," said Strikers' guard Ivoine Ingraham. Ingraham fouled out in the fourth quarter but still led his team in scoring with 11 points. Lenford Powell scored all eight of his points in the fourth, Steven Humes dropped in five of his seven in that stanza, and Tyreke Colebrooke contributed five. Spence finished with four huge points, all coming in the fourth quarter. "This is a big win because now we know that we could beat them," said Spence. "Hopefully we got into their head a little bit and now when we play them again we will be ready to give them another battle." Turnquest paced the Crushers with a game-high 14 points. Malik Jones added 10, and Gregory Cooper scored four. "I think it was a miscalculation on my behalf - I didn't check the book to see how many fouls my big man had and he ended up fouling out the game. That was a crucial time in the game and then home court advantage just took over," said Crushers' Head Coach Donillo Culmer. "In the final minute I thought we were ahead 36-35, but they said we were down 35-34 - that was a huge difference. Also, we missed too many lay-ups. Nevertheless, our confidence is not shaken. It took the full game for them to win and they had home court advantage so we'll be back. This loss won't dampen our spirits at all. Our goal is still to win our second straight title this year," he added. The Strikers failed to score in the first quarter as they found themselves behind 5-0 after one, trailed 12-9 at the half, and were still down 17-13 at the end of three quarters. They battled all the way back in the fourth quarter, finally putting the game away on two free shots from Kenneth Reckley in the final minute of the game. Those two free shots were Reckley's only points of the game. "It feels real good," said Ingraham. "We're very confident right now. Coach told us from the beginning of the season if we could snap their confidence, it's over. After I fouled out, I was down for a bit but I knew the guys would never give up. They played hard until the bell sounded. We were always confident that we would come out on top. After the last game at St. Bede's we were determined to come out on top this time," he added. Turnquest claimed that their confidence is not snapped at all though. He said that their eyes remain set on winning another championship. "I think that we fell down on defense and that caused us a bit," he said. "We missed too many lay-ups but we know that we could beat them. We just have to play better defense and work the ball around on offense," he added. Both teams are now tied at the top of the standings with identical 7-1 win/loss records. The Strikers will travel to Our Lady's tomorrow to play the Blue Flames while the Crushers will travel to Xavier's Lower School next week Monday to play the Giants in their next game.
Tuesday, November 1, 2009 |
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