Hydel retained their ISSA/KFC Southern Conference Under-19 basketball title with a dominant 75-61 win over Kingston College (KC) at the National Stadium complex last night.

Inspirational Deano Hibbert led the St Catherine-based school with 20 points, while Brian Martin accumulated 15.

KC’s points thrust was led by Clifton Jean (23) and Andre Helps (nine).

The North Street-based school made an auspicious start by claiming the first quarter 17-13, but Hydel reeled them in by taking the other three.

The second quarter saw the champions up 32-31, 55-44 in the third and finished off the task 75-61.

In the curtain-raiser, Ardenne High defeated KC 43-40 to claim their fourth straight title at the Under-16 level.

The victors were spurred on in the low-scoring encounter by Malik McCarthy, who bagged 17 points, but it was KC’s Malik Pusey that claimed game-high honours with 23.

KC led the first (9-7) and second quarter (19-13), but Ardenne rallied to tie the third 23-23 and the final ended 30-30, which forced the game into over time.

In a frenetic five minutes where both teams made their final push for victory, 23 points were posted on the board, with 13 going to Ardenne, which proved decisive.