DEFENDING champions Campion College defeated Jamaica College (JC) 75-67 to take a 1-0 lead in Game One of their best-of-three Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA) Southern Basketball Conference High School Under-19 finals at Campion school court last Thursday.

Campion had to stave off a 10-minute surge from JC in the final quarter to secure the win.

The defending champions were also registering their third-straight win against the Old Hope Road aggregation. In the preliminary rounds, Campion defeated JC twice in topping Zone A with 27 points against JC’s 26 points.

Game Two of the finals is scheduled for tomorrow at JC’s campus.

Campion had the better of the early exchanges in the first quarter as they outscored their opponents with fast breaks, lay-ups, and good dribbles to lead at the first break 22-13.

Campion turned on the pressure in the second quarter through the trio of Micah-Imani Swaine, Halric Thompson, and Nicholas Aiken as they raced to a 16-point lead (31-15) and gained a 43-22 lead at half-time.

With Campion having a 21-point lead going into the third quarter, JC needed to prevent their opponents from scoring freely and they needed to improve their efforts at the other end.

JC, despite the shooting of Xavier Keyes, Jonah Cooper, Jonathan Morgan, and Adrian Parkes, were still outgunning by Campion, especially Swaine who was the mainstay of their shooting. Campion maintained a 19-point lead (61-42) at the final break

In the fourth and final quarter, JC were getting the better of the champions, as they quickly closed down the lead to four points (64-60) with three minutes remaining on the clock.

In their offensive enterprise, JC were squandering scoring opportunities from lay-ups and free throws, but Campion capitalised on their opponents’ mistakes to pull away to win 75-67.

The principal scorers for Campion were Swaine with 17 points, seven reboundsm and five steals; Morgan 10 points and 11 rebounds, and Aiken with 10 points.

For JC, the main scorers were, Keyes who had a game-high 30 points and 11 rebounds, Cooper with 14 points, and Parkes with 10 points and five rebounds.

— Gerald Reid