A game-high 34 points from forward Jehu Lafeuille was still not enough for Lakers Club to prevent Burger King Clapham Bulls from taking a hard-fought 87-79 victory in the Co-operators General Insurance Barbados Amateur Basketball Association Premier League on Thursday.
During the nightcap encounter at the Gymnasium of the Garfield Sobers Sports Complex, the Bulls maintained the lead throughout 29-20, 41-40 and 65-58, doing just enough to get over the line against the persistent Lakers.
Forward Kemar Benn led from the front for the Bulls with 26 points, 13 rebounds and two assists. Simeon Maynard also shone with 19 points, ten rebounds and three assists and fellow guard and captain Rahiim Gibbons contributed 18 points Bulls forward Akeem Marsh had a quiet night on the court, accounting for 12 points and just six rebounds with five assists. Khaleb Gaskin chipped in with eight points.
Defence
The Bulls had it tough on defence, especially since a few of their key defensive players were out through injury, the latest being Andrew Ifill.
That made life somewhat easy for the Lakers’ top player Lafeuille to take on Marsh and Benn inside the paint. Lafeuille, who has been in fine form of late, showing aggression on both offence and defence, especially with some of his signature layup moves, was a handful for those who tried to mark him.
Lafeuille, who is also capable of shooting threes, accounted for 15 rebounds in his 40 minutes on court. Also adding to the Laker’s overall points tally were Scott Wharton (18), Keefe Birkett (11), Makaari Jones (7), David Walkes (6) and Joshua Lowe (6).
After trailing by at least ten points midway through the second quarter, the Lakers did well to cut the deficit significantly and trailed by just one point (41-40) at half-time.
However, they marred their effort by failing to properly box out and secure possession, committing some offensive fouls, and committing some bad turnovers.
Nonetheless, both teams can be credited for making a couple of good passes during the match and showing very good tactical awareness, especially the Lakers, who were coached by Bacari Bascombe in the absence of coach Derek Browne.
Unfortunately, the Lakers practically threw the match away after trailing by four points (75-71) with three minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. And it didn’t help their situation when coach Bascombe got a technical from referee Andrew Mayers for being vocal about some of the calls. In the other game, Fusionz Boutique Station Hill Cavaliers hammered A& C Security Services Spartans 118-73 after holding quarter leads at 33-14, 62-35, 92-49 in a one-sided clash.
Forward Deveron Knight led from the front with 42 points, supported by Gavin Phillips (20), Adriel Brathwaite (18), Darren Hunte (12) and Zachary Cave (10).
Kadian Brathwaite (28), John Paul-Alleyne (20) and Sean Harding (11) were the main contributors for the struggling Spartans team.
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