​Un­beat­en Spar­tans TT turned in a dom­i­nant all-round per­for­mance Tues­day evening as the lead­ers fin­ished the Men’s First Di­vi­sion con­test with six play­ers in dou­ble fig­ures en route to a com­mand­ing 114-98 win over De­fence Force in the Lin­coln “Crip­ple” Grif­fith North Zone Bas­ket­ball League at the Wood­brook Youth Fa­cil­i­ty.

​The ex­pe­ri­enced Tris­ton Ben­jamin led the charge, with point guard scor­ing 24 points. Young­ster Zachary Julien was next in line with 19 and Chris­t­ian Gillineau added 17. Their team­mates William Fran­cis and Theron Eve­lyn each chipped in with 12 while Ama­ree Toney round­ed out the dou­ble-dig­it scor­ers with 10.

​It was an even start be­tween the teams, but it was the Army/Coast Guard com­bi­na­tion team hold­ing a nar­row one-point (26-25) lead at the end of the first quar­ter.

​Play in the sec­ond pe­ri­od, though, be­gan to shift in favour of Spar­tans, which had Ben­jamin and Fran­cis con­tin­u­ous­ly at­tack­ing the bas­ket, earn­ing trips to the free throw line which they con­vert­ed.

​Spar­tans ex­tend­ed the ad­van­tage to eight points (38-30) be­fore shoot­ing guard Ker­ry McMil­lan knocked down a triple to briefly halt the run. De­fence Force kept chip­ping away at the lead, com­ing with­in six points, but by the end of the half, Spar­tans outscored Army 30-20 to main­tain a nine-point (55-46) lead at half­time.

​In the sec­ond half, Spar­tans con­tin­ued their press de­fence, forc­ing sev­er­al turnovers which they con­vert­ed in­to points. Julien scored eight of his 19 points in the third quar­ter, con­nect­ing on two shots from be­yond the three-point arc. Post-play­er Fran­cis al­so hit a three-point­er to the de­light of the fans as Spar­tans held an 89-70 lead head­ing in­to the fourth quar­ter.

​Spar­tans again dom­i­nat­ed the fi­nal ses­sion de­spite De­fence Force mak­ing sev­er­al runs in the quar­ter, spurred on by speedy for­ward Je­didi­ah Ce­les­tine, who net­ted a game-high 30 points. In the end, De­fence Force had to set­tle for the 16-point loss.

​McMil­lan fin­ished with 22 points, while team­mates Jahiem Job and Kens­ley Sandy added 16 and 11, re­spec­tive­ly, in the de­feat.

​In the open­ing match, Cale­do­nia Clip­pers, boost­ed by Sal­im Greenidge (20) and Ak­il Payn­ter (17), de­feat­ed T&T 3x3 Acad­e­my 83-55.

​On Thurs­day, Ba­sic Bas­ket­ball Acad­e­my, pi­lot­ed by 25 from Mi­lan Sta­menkovic, beat Arou­ca Li­ons 81-63 in their Men’s Sec­ond Di­vi­sion match-up.

​Ear­li­er that day, a trio of Nate Toney (16), Steven “Lighter” Lewis (14) and Kervis King (10) saw De­fence Force Vet­er­ans to a 66-58 vic­to­ry over de­fend­ing cham­pi­on East West Vet­er­ans in the Over-45 Di­vi­sion.

​Ac­tion con­tin­ues on Sun­day with a triple-head­er from 2:30 pm.

Re­sults

Thurs­day

Arou­ca Li­ons 63 (Daerius Green-Thomp­son 16, Adom Bal­ford 13, Jay­den Sut­ton 11) vs Ba­sic Bas­ket­ball Acad­e­my 81 (Mi­lan Sta­menkovic 25, Amir Bal­go­b­in 17, Jairhem McLeod 16, Aiden Bal­go­b­in 12). Quar­ters: 1st 30-10, 2nd 42-33, 3rd 71-48 (All in favour of Ba­sic).

O-45 Di­vi­sion

De­fence Force Vet­er­ans 66 (Nate Toney 16, Steven Lewis 14, Kervis King 10) vs East West Vet­er­ans 58 (Ryan Spencer 18, Mar­lon Thomas 17, Dex­ter Morien 15). Quar­ters: 1st 31-9, 2nd 48-27, 3rd 57-44 (All in favour of De­fence Force).

Tues­day

Men’s First Di­vi­sion

De­fence Force 98 (Je­didi­ah Ce­les­tine 30, Ker­ry McMil­lan 22, Jahiem Job 16, Kens­ley Sandy 11) vs Spar­tans TT 114 (Tris­ton Ben­jamin 24, Zachary Julien 19, Chris­t­ian Gillineau 17, William Fran­cis 12, Theron Eve­lyn 12, Ama­ree Toney 10). Quar­ters: 1st 26-25 (De­fence Force), 2nd 55-46 (Spar­tans), 3rd 89-70 (Spar­tans).

Men’s Sec­ond Di­vi­sion

Cale­do­nia Clip­pers 83 (Sal­im Greenidge 20, Ak­il Payn­ter 17, Ak­il La Roach 10) vs T&T 3x3 Acad­e­my 55 (Azari­ah Bal­go­b­in 13, Ariel Tou­s­saint 12, Em­manuel May­ers 11). Quar­ters: 1st 20-17, 2nd 40-30, 3rd 62-42 (All in favour of Clip­pers).

UP­COM­ING Match­es

To­day

Men’s Sec­ond Di­vi­sion

• ↓Trail­blaz­ers vs Arou­ca Li­ons, 2.30 pm

Men’s First Di­vi­sion

• ↓De­fence Force vs Ba­sic Bas­ket­ball Acad­e­my, 4 pm

O-45 Di­vi­sion

• ↓Vet­er­ans vs Pris­ons, 5.30 pm

Wednes­day

Men’s Sec­ond Di­vi­sion

• ↓Va­len­cia New Gen­er­a­tion vs T&T 3x3 Acad­e­my, 6.30 pm

• ↓Cale­do­nia Clip­pers vs Ba­sic Bas­ket­ball Acad­e­my, 8.30 pm