The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

THE Temple Christian Suns junior boys’ basketball team capped an undefeated season with a championship title.

The Suns closed out the two-game series with a 39-35 clinching win over the QC Comets Wednesday night at the Kendal Isaacs Gymnasium.

Leading 37-35, with less than one minute left to play, the Suns suffered three consecutive turnovers but the Comets failed to capitalise each trip down the court.

On the next possession, Suns guard Dayton Albury was double teamed and found Cruz Johnson under the basket for his only score, which turned out to be the game winner.

Suns head coach Keith Rolle said the dedication of his team has paid dividends over the years.

“This is a wonderful group of young men. From our first game up to this point I’ve seen a tremendous improvement. Yes, we were undefeated, but from the first game they were committed and you can see they really wanted it,” he said, “I don’t think there was a team that deserved it more than them and hats off to the young men.”

Kirkwood Smith led the Suns with 12 points, Christian Sturrup had eight, while Joshua Burrows and Albury each finished with four.

Dionysius Rolle led the Comets with 10 points, both Nathan Allen and Nathan Moss scored six apiece.

The game was played to a slow pace in the first quarter. After a high scoring effort in game one, Albury was the catalyst for the offence in game two as a facilitator. He dished back to back assists to give the Suns a four point lead.

The Comets kept pace, but the Suns still clung to a 19-18 lead at the half.

Smith opened the scoring in the third quarter with a three point play, followed by a long range two pointer from Burrows, Sturrup completed a three point play to cap an 8-0 run.

The Comets stormed back, three pointer from Rolle and Moss layup made it 32-31 headed into the fourth quarter.

With their first junior boys title in school history, Rolle credited the support of the parents and the school’s staff for the team’s success this year.

“This wouldn’t have been possible without the parents who were supportive. There were practices, they were out to the games, they were a major part of this process and they were a huge part of the success we had tonight,” he said, “Most of these guys were on the junior team for the last two years. I’ve seen them grow and develop. We were favoured to have an elite guard in Dayton Albury come over also, but this was not a one man team. We pretty much won all of our games on the defensive end and we got our offence from our defence. They believed in working hard, I’m proud of them and they deserved it.”