The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

THE double runners-up St Cecilia’s Strikers struck twice to hand the St Francis/Joseph Shockers a pair of shocking losses yesterday at Loyola Hall as the Catholic Board of Education continued its primary schools basketball league.

In the girls’ game, the Strikers routed the defending champions Strikers 19-7 as Raynell Young exploded for a game high 13 points to single-handedly secure the win. Brianna Hanna added five as the two teams moved into a two-way tie for first place with a 2-1 win-loss record. Sammeka Hepburn had three and both Gianna Farquharson and Rashae Forbes had two points each in a losing effort.

And in the boys’ feature game, Cayden King came up with a game high 11 and Zachary Knowles chipped in with seven as St Francis/Joseph held off St Francis/Joseph 21-18.

Nikolai Saunders had nine and Larry Daxon contributed four in a losing effort as both teams again pulled even at 2-1 in the front running standings.

“We did pretty good today. We executed our offence, especially my girls,” said Strikers’ coach Devon Johnson. “They played their defence the way they were taught to play. They moved when they had to. They did a very good job today.”

Johnson, however, said with just four teams entered in the league, he prepares his teams for the postseason because everybody will make the playoffs.

“I just try to get them better and better every game that they play,” Johnson said.

In the girls’ game, St Cecilia took a slim 5-4 lead as Young scored all their points. They scored the only point in the second quarter. But in the third, Young came up with six points in their 9-0 spurt as they put the game out of reach. The Strikers closed it out with a 4-3 tear in the fourth.

“The girls’ team is fairly new. We have just two players with any game experience,” said St Francis/Joseph coach Ricardo Freemantle. “But they are coming together good. We are 2-1. Unfortunately we lost the game today. I think it was due to the fact that they didn’t follow instructions and not really execute the plays. But we will go back to the drawing board and try to improve on our performance.”

In the boys’ game, it was a see-saw battle as King canned all five points in St Cecilia’s 5-4 lead after the first quarter. Saunders and Joel Thompson had three and two respectively in the second quarter as St Francis/Joseph went on a 5-1 tear to snatch a 9-6 lead. Then in the third, Knowles and Raheem Thompson got three and two points each as the Strikers struck for a 5-3 advantage to trail 12-11.

When it counted the most in the fourth, King had six and Knowles four as they outscored the Shockers 10-6 to hold onto the close encounter.

“It was one of those days. Nothing gone right down the fourth quarter,” said St Francis/Joseph coach Donnie Culmer. “The boys didn’t listen down the stretch. We made some key turnovers and missed free throws. We played a hell of a game team from St Cecilia’s.

“This is our second loss for the year. We won the Temple Christian Tournament in December, we got to the final of the Father Marcian Peters, but we had some people that had to go away and we lost. Now this is just our first loss in here. We will be alright. But I’m glad that we lost because it can now bring them back down to reality because they were getting real cocky.”