Premier
Division Standings
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Rams Hitters
2006 |
|
Hanley |
Phillip |
Huggins |
Chumney |
Davis |
Forbes |
HITTERS
WINS SKABA TITLE........AGAIN
The
Rams Hitters has done it again winning their 17th St.Kitts Amateur
Basketball Association Championship title as they defeated the defending
champions Cable and Wireless Fig Tree 2 games to nil in the best of
three games final series to take the coveted 2006 SKABA Sprite/National
Bank Championship Title .
The game 2 in the best of 3 series final began with both teams playing
well with none having any significant advantage. The energetic Fig Tree
guard Lyle Dixie Duggins played well defensively to keep the Hitters
guard combo of Marlon Powel and Trevor Marty Huggins in check. At the
half Hitters enjoyed a very slim and uncomfortable 2 point lead, 39-37.
The second half began with Hitters going on a 10 -0 run as the Fig Tree
team broke down mentally as they began to concentrate more on the
officials calls than on the game. The Fig Tree players became more
concerned about how the referee blew than how to keep the Hitters from
establishing an insurmountable lead. With less than 4 minutes remaining
in the 4th quarter Fig Tree found themselves down 57-43. Hitters held on
to the huge advantage well into the 4th quarter when Fig tree made a
very brief run to bring the hitters lead to within 13. However a series
of missed opportunities by Fig Tree allowed the Hitters to further
extend their lead to as much as 20 with 2 minutes remaining. Fig Tree
had multiple easy opportunities in the final quarter which they failed
to convert and their developed obsession with referees calls made the
final quarter a rather easy one for the Hitters as they extended their
14 point half time lead to a huge 23 point lead at the final whistle
with the score 88-65. The hugely fig tree favored crowd at basketball
city let out a simultaneous moan as the final horn blew with Hitters
regaining the SKABA title. The much low-keyed victory was a vast
difference to the carnival like atmosphere during the 2005 final between
Fig Tree and McKnight Trotters. The huge fig tree presence in the crowd
became evident at games end when it seemed like the only persons
celebrating the Hitters victory was the Hitters players themselves.
However the crowd were obviously unhappy but even more evident was the
fact that they were not at all disappointed as they appreciated the
effort of their team considering the plethora of injuries to key players
including leading rebounder Shane Shuba Hendrick and Kemo Shasta Duncan
who did not play in game 1 but valiantly played in game two with a
severely broken nose, as well as the impressive performance of the new
champions Hitters.Glen Ghost Phillip led all scorers with 23 points and
10 rebounds while guard Marlon Powell had 15 points and 4 rebounds for
Hitters. Fig Tree was led by Lyle Dixie Duggins with an inspiring 19
points and 5 rebounds while Eston Williams had 14 points and 3 rebounds.
Other good performances cam from Jerran Morris with 12 points and 8
rebounds and Othneil Hyliger with 7 points and 2 rebounds.
Admittedly The finals was not an exceptionally exciting one but it did
not deter the presence and participation of the basketball fans who
turned out in their numbers to support the teams and basketball, said
Wallis Wilkin Vice President of SKABA. Again the interest and excitement
in the game has grown significantly over the last few years and we
intend to maintain that interest with various out-of season basketball
leagues and activities including the proposed SKABA Business League, the
on going Renee Digulio Summer Female League and the 2nd annual Caribbean
Club Basketball Invitational in which I hope to see new SKABA champions
Hitters and defending Caribbean Invitational Champions Fig Tree and "A"
division champions from Nevis the Cotton Ground Rebels representing the
federation against the regions top club teams at the tournament, the
SKABA VP continued.
The playoff/finals MVP was Shawn Shabba Forbes of Hitters who averaged
over 18 points and 15 rebounds per game.
