With less than one week and just two rounds of matches remaining in the 2024-25 Under-19 Boys Schools Basketball Tournament, Soufrière Comprehensive Secondary School has been confirmed as the top seed coming out of Group B. The lads from Sulphur City won the west coast derby over Choiseul Secondary, 61-27 at the Beausejour Gymnasium, on Thursday.
With that, Soufrière sealed an unbeaten 4-0 record in the preliminaries. They now await the conclusion of Group A next week, but they will likely meet Patricia D James Secondary in the semifinals.
Despite an injury to Alex Longville, Soufrière relied on a balanced scoring attack. Micah Alphonse scored 18 points on 9-19 shooting, adding 16 rebounds. Curdin Jones netted 12 points on 6-17 shooting with 14 boards to complete yet another double-double. Also shooting 6-17 was team captain Nathaniel Modeste, but he added three free throws to take his tally to 15 for the game, along with a team-high seven steals. Shayanne Edgar hit 6-16 for 12 points and 12 caroms.
For Choiseul, Ethan Thomas had 13 points and four steals. Soufrière had 54 rebounds, 22 steals, and 29 turnovers. Choiseul recorded just 26 rebounds and 11 steals, turning the ball over 31 times.
“There are still a lot of technical issues that we need to iron out,” stressed Soufrière coach Marc Antoine. “We keep on missing a lot of easy layups. So that’s something we really need to work on, because we’re now going to the semifinals, and hopefully, they have a better game in the semifinals, and then we can progress to the finals.”
Despite being virtually unchallenged in the round-robin phase, Antoine has constantly called on his team to step up their game. With the business end of the competition in sight, he praised all the young players who have been involved for their various schools. Although the skill level has been somewhat uneven, Antoine is certain that the sport is in a good place.
“It’s all good for the game,” he said. “We need as much exposure as possible from the different schools. Everybody gets a chance. It’s just that basics, once we can get all the basics, the guys who do have the basics, some guys lack confidence as well. But, like I said, just keep on practising, and hopefully, of course, they will reach where they have to reach.”
Although he insisted that he is not looking past their upcoming semifinal, Antoine did reveal that he has been monitoring possible finals opponents, Sir Arthur Lewis Community College. He said the college team features some of his players from last year, so he knows “what they can do”.
Earlier in the week, Patricia D James Secondary took their record to 3-1, beating Micoud Secondary 75-22. Junior Dupre had his second 40-point game this season, going 17-32 from the field, and 4-4 from the line, adding 19 rebounds, eight steals, five assists, and four blocks. Maliq Mitchell contributed 21 points and five steals. Martin Daniel had 11 rebounds and five steals.
St Mary’s College defeated the Castries Comprehensive Secondary School Cardinals.
