Clay­ton Clarke

Sports Cor­re­spon­dent

Fa­ti­ma Col­lege be­gan the de­fence of their na­tion­al un­der-17 schools bas­ket­ball boys ti­tle by cap­tur­ing the 2024 sea­son-open­ing day knock-out ti­tle at the Mal­oney In­door Sport­ing Are­na in Mal­oney Gar­dens, Mal­oney, yes­ter­day.

Fa­ti­ma whipped Holy Cross Col­lege 25-14 in the fi­nals. The Fa­ti­ma boys ad­vanced to the sev­en-minute-a-half fi­nal match af­ter over­com­ing East Mu­cu­rapo Sec­ondary 24-9 in the semi­fi­nal. Holy Cross Col­lege edged Hillview Col­lege 12-7 in the oth­er semi­fi­nal con­test.

Hillview took third place af­ter de­feat­ing East Mu­cu­rapo 20-2.

Jeda­iah King cap­tained the Fa­ti­ma squad topped the group play ear­li­er in the day first beat­ing Hillview 19-17 the open­ing match of the day and then Bish­ops High 18-7 in a re­match of the Na­tion­al Fi­nals in Pleas­antville last No­vem­ber.

Holy Cross al­so won both group match­es with tri­umphs over East Mu­cu­rapo Sec­ondary (20-8) and St. Bene­dicts (16-6).

Hillview se­cured a semi­fi­nal spot af­ter de­feat­ing Bish­ops High (20-5) while East Mu­cu­rapo moved in­to the fi­nal four with a 7-2 tri­umph over St . Bene­dicts Col­lege.

Bish­ops High, rep­re­sent­ed by cap­tain Solomon Okali, won the Skills Chal­lenge pre­vail­ing over San Juan South Sec­ondary School, while Form 2 stu­dent Tyrese Singh of San Juan North Sec­ondary School emerged as King of the three-point shoot­ing com­pe­ti­tion with sev­en shots dur­ing the fi­nal round.

Twen­ty-four teams par­tic­i­pat­ed in the March Past pa­rade in the pres­ence of Pres­i­dent of the Trinidad and To­ba­go Schools Bas­ket­ball As­so­ci­a­tion Al­li­son Bastien, Sports, and Phys­i­cal Ed­u­ca­tion Co­or­di­na­tor in the Min­istry of Ed­u­ca­tion Ju­dith-Ann Robert­son-Daniel, and Sec­re­tary of the Na­tion­al Bas­ket­ball Fed­er­a­tion of Trinidad and To­ba­go (NBFTT) Clay­ton Black­man.

The teams present were: Barataria North Sec­ondary, Bish­ops High, El Do­ra­do West Sec­ondary, Five Rivers Sec­ondary, Fa­ti­ma Col­lege, Hill View Col­lege, San Juan South Col­lege, Trin­i­ty Col­lege East, Caribbean Union Col­lege, Holy Name Con­vent, Bel­mont Sec­ondary, Diego Mar­tin Cen­tral Sec­ondary, Mu­cu­rapo West Sec­ondary, Holy Cross Col­lege, Tri­mont Col­lege, East Mu­cu­rapo Sec­ondary, San Juan North Sec­ondary, South East Port of Spain, Tran­quil­i­ty Sec­ondary, St. George Col­lege, Pre­sen­ta­tion Col­lege-San Do, St. Joseph Sec­ondary, Ch­agua­nas North Sec­ondary, St Bene­dict’s Col­lege)

Open­ing Day Un­der 17 Knock Out com­pe­ti­tion

Fi­nals

Fa­ti­ma Col­lege 25 vs Holy Cross Col­lege 14 (12-2)

Third place play-off

Hillview Col­lege 20 vs East Mu­cu­rapo Sec­ondary 2 (15-0)

Semi­fi­nals

Fa­ti­ma 24 vs East Mu­cu­rapo Sec­ondary 9 (14-4)

Semi­fi­nal

Holy Cross 12 -Hillview 7 (5-3)

Group Match­es

Fa­ti­ma 19 vs Hillview 17 ( 8-7)

Holy Cross 20 vs East Mu­cu­rapo Sec­ondary 8 (13-4)

Hillview Col­lege 20 vs Bish­ops High 5 (13-4)

East Mu­cu­rapo Sec­ondary 7 vs St. Bene­dicts 2 (0-0)

Fa­ti­ma 18 vs Bish­ops High 7 (4-2)

Holy Cross 16 vs St. Bene­dicts 6 (3-1)

Skills Chal­lenge

Fi­nals

Bish­op High School bt San Juan South Sec­ondary

Semi­fi­nal

San Juan South Sec­ondary bt East Mu­cu­rapo Sec­ondary

Bish­ops High bt Pre­sen­ta­tion Col­lege (San Fer­nan­do)

Sec­ond round

San Juan South Sec­ondary bt Trin­i­ty Col­lege-East

East Mu­cu­rapo Sec­ondary bt North East­ern Col­lege

Pre­sen­ta­tion San Fer­nan­do bt El Do­ra­do West Sec­ondary

Bish­ops High bt Holy Cross