Kwesi Mugisa, Staff Reporter

Kingston College (KC) stood tall to beat off a desperate fourth-quarter surge by a clamouring Ardenne, eventually coming away 53-50 winners in a thrilling KFC/ISSA/Pepsi Southern Conference Under-19 final at the National Stadium yesterday.

Finding themselves down by as much as 22 points late in the second quarter and still down 28-40 headed into the final one, a determined final stanza led by Andrew Khan, who finished with 14 points and 11 rebounds, and Alex Lubsy, who finished with 13 points, eight of which came in the fourth quarter, eventually saw them trail 50-51 with less than a minute remaining.

However, not even that would be enough to upstage KC, who were led by Omari Green's 24 points. With the series tied 1-1, the 'Purples' came out determined to take the trophy back to North Street for the first time in many moons.

'We held on'

An elated KC coach, Andrew Jackson, said: "We expected the surge but we had to hold on and live up to our motto - 'the brave may fall but never yield'. It takes a lot to concentrate for all four quarters. We tired a bit in the final quarter, but we just held on.

"The boys gave their best effort out there today and fought hard to come back into the game. That's all we could have asked of them," said Ardenne assistant coach Mark Law. "We just told them to leave everything out there headed into the final quarter. They did that but it just didn't happen this time."

Sprinting away from their stunned opponents, KC knocked Ardenne flat (18-7) in the first quarter. Despite Green sitting on the bench for most of the second quarter, the North Street team continued its dominance and sharp shooting from behind the arc saw them push the lead to 29-10 by half-time.

Buoyed on by his surging team, Daniel Thomas, who ended the game with eight points, hit a huge three-pointer to bring his team within a point with 1:35 left on the clock. With seconds remaining, an Ardenne fast- break could have made it curtains but having received the pass, David Gardner, who looked a bundle of nerves having taken up point guard responsibilities after Kristopher Allen fouled out, saw his lay-up roll around the rim before spilling off.