The Cotton Ground Rebels Basketball team had a very successful debut in there quest not only as the first Nevisian team to participate in a St. Kitts Amateur Basketball Association Basketball league but also the first team from outside of St.Kitts to win an “A” division title.
Immediately following the official opening ceremony of the SPRITE/National Bank SKABA 2006 league on Sunday, the first of two encounters involving Nevisian teams took place when a Nevis Select Junior team played a SKABA Select Junior team in a 20 minute exhibition game.
The match-up turned out to be grossly one sided as the St. Kitts team totally out-played their Nevisian counterparts ending the game with an unbelievable 42-4 victory.
The game high scorer came from the Kittitian Juniors in William Benjamin who had 7 points.
The 2nd game of the evening was the much-anticipated debut of the Cotton Ground team who played last year’s “A” Division championship runners-up the Quakers.
The encounter proved to be the most exciting of the evening with both teams exchanging baskets for most of the game ending the first half tied at 21.
The 2nd half was a great deal of the same up until the final moments when the Nevis champions pulled ahead by some 3 points and was able to hold on to that advantage until the end.
This earned the Nevisians a 47-44 victory in their debut match in the SKABA 2006 league. Cotton Ground was lead by Jenison France who led all scorers with 20 points and 9 rebounds and Everson Wallace with 16 points and 2 rebounds.
Quakers had only one player in double figures in there losing effort and that was Chad England who had 11 points.
“The Rebels have made their mark already after just one game,” said Vice President Wallis Wilkin.
They have beaten a team that was one game away from winning the “A” Division title last season, therefore it wouldn’t be wise to bet against the Cotton Ground Rebels in doing exceptionally well in this years league,” the SKABA VP continued.
The Rebels will play on Saturdays at 6:00pm to accommodate their Journey to and from Nevis. They will play a total of 12 matches before the start of the playoffs. Their first encounter will be on Saturday 1st April versus Dieppe Bay.
