Feb. 28, 2009 — The Ronald Charles Biddy Basketball League Championships got under way Friday night in the St. Croix Central High School gym with games in all three divisions. Winning opening contests in the best two-of-three finals were Boys Dem in the13-15 age group division, More Fire in the 10-12 division and Zion in the 7-9 division.
Zion 28, Working Together 27
In game one, Zion withstood a late comeback by Working Together to win an exciting contest, 28-27. Six players on the Zion Roster got into the scoring column, led by Jahni Adolpho's nine points, while Keshawn Gumbs netted six and C’korey Wilson chipped in five. Only three players got into the scoring column for Working Together, but one of them was the high scoring Shomanee Francis who finished with a game-high 15 points. Teammate Deshawne Graham also finished in double figures with 10 points. Francis also had four boards and two steals.
More Fire 40, Zion 30
More Fire used a 14-point second quarter to take command of the game on their way to 10-point victory in game one of this championship series, 40-30. Zion, which has a squad competing in all three divisions, was within six points at the end of three quarters, 27-21. But More Fire got hot in the fourth quarter to outscore Zion 14-9 and seal the victory. More fire was led offensively by Tikoy Felix, who finished with a game high 14 points; he was ably supported by Nicholas Springer and Kyle Sealy, who finished with nine and seven points respectively. Nine Zion players got into the scoring column with Rakeem Richardson leading the way with eight points.
Boys Dem 24, Lakers 21
Boys Dem and the Lakers went at each other defensively from the opening whistle, keeping the final score low. With both teams scrambling on D, a plethora of turnovers was the story, and the game was not decided until the horn blew for the final time.
Boys Dem was slightly better in the first half as they held the Lakers to just six points over two quarters while netting 12 for a 12-6 lead at the half. The Lakers' defense tightened in the third quarter and their offense woke up to give them a 10-4 advantage in the third quarter, knotting the score at 16. It was a see-saw battle for most of the fourth, but in the end More Fire came out three points better. The Lakers did get off a shot at the buzzer, a long three-point attempt to tie, but it bounced off the rim.
Javier Martinez led more Fire with a game high 11 points and Shakeel Williams contributed nine points. The Lakers got nine and eight points from Razeem Huggins and Horace Matthews respectively.
