BY GERALD REID

Observer writer

JAMAICA College inflicted a big 99-11 win over Papine High as the 2014 ISSA/Southern Conference High School Under-19 Basketball League got under way last Friday at the Stadium Basketball Courts.

It was a one-sided affair from the first quarter where the Old Hope Road aggregation, coached by Swayne Cunningham, just missed hitting the three-fixture mark.

Winning coach Cunningham said the win was a very comprehensive one despite the fact that he doesn’t like to beat a team by such a wide margin.

“Papine has just returned to the competition after a one-year absence and they did not provide us with any worthwhile competition as the players went on a scoring spree,” said Cunningham, who led JC to second in the Under-19 and third in the Under-16 in the National play-offs..

Despite placing that heavy defeat on their opponents, the JC coach added that he would like the players to stay at a high level, and it gave enough opportunity see the playing ability of the players, especially the Under-16, as some are new to basketball.

“Some of the Under-16 players looked very promising and I have seen from this game their ability to produce and they should continue to do so at a high standard,” he said.

He said this year’s competition should be quite interesting and exciting as the schools to watch are defending champions Kingston College, Calabar, Campion College, St George’s College, St Jago High, St Catherine and Jamaica College.

Nevertheless, it was a convincing win for JC, who led 27-0 at the first quarter and 49-3 at half-time. JC continued to pepper their opponents in the third quarter, registering a 25-0 scoreline to increase the margin to 74-3. At this stage with one quarter remaining, JC were heading to become the first school to hit that magical 100-point mark but failed by a whisker. They scored 26-8 in the fourth quarter for the runaway win.

The principal scorers for Jamaica College were Okeme Buckley with 20 points; Romario Rodney with 17 points; Jonathan Clarke contributed 15 points, and Jaheed Peters added 12 points.

Meanwhile, Jamaica College also defeated Papine High in the Under-16 League, winning 55-14. Quarterly scores were 17-6, 14-3, 16-0, 8-5. Kalid Williams was the top scorer with 16 points.

The Southern Conference League continues today with St Catherine High vs Jamaica College; Calabar High vs Hydel High; St Andrew Technical High (STATHS) vs Wolmer’s Boys in the Under-16 League.

In the Under-19 League — St Catherine High vs Jamaica College; Calabar High vs Hydel High; Papine High vs Wolmer’s Boys. Home teams are named first with the Under-16 starting at 2:30 and the Under-19 at 3:30.

Schools and their respective zones are: UNDER-16 – Zone ‘A’ — Ardenne High, Clan Carthy, Campion College, Kingston College, St George’s College, and St. Jago High.

Zone ‘B’ — Calabar High, Jamaica College, Hydel High, St Andrew Technical High School (STATHS), St Catherine High and Wolmer’s Boys.

UNDER-19 – Zone ‘A’ — defending champions Kingston College, St George’s College, Campion College, Ardenne High, Camperdown High, St Jago High and Tivoli High.

Zone ‘B’ –Jamaica College, Calabar High, Hydel High, St Catherine High, Wolmer’s Boys and Papine High.