Winston Sill/Freelance Photographer
Kingston College's Omari Green (left) holds the ball ahead of Ardenne's Daniel Thomas during their ISSA/KFC Under-19 basketball final at the National Stadium on Friday. KC won 59-54.

Robert Bailey, Freelance Writer

DEFENDING Champions Ardenne High and King-ston College (KC) captured the ISSA/KFC All-island Under-16 and Under-19 basketball titles, respectively, with victories over Old Harbour and Ardenne at the National Stadium courts on Friday.

In the opening Under-16 game, Ardenne defeated Old Harbour 50-39 while KC followed that with a 59-54 victory over Ardenne.

Adam Fernandez led the way for Ardenne's Under-16s with a game-high 29 points and eight rebounds and he received solid support from Dimitri Gauge (six points and eight rebounds).

Top performers

Nicholas Reeves (11 points and eight rebounds) and Earl Mowatt (10 points and 11 rebounds) were the top performers for Old Harbour.

In the second final, Omari Green led the way for KC with a game-high 22 points and 13 rebounds. Bradley Lecky (10 points) and Orayne Crawford (10 points) also played well.

Alex Lubsey was the leading scorer for Ardenne with 18 points and nine rebounds, while Luke Cook had 16 points and six rebounds.

Andrew Jackson, coach of KC, was delighted with his team's victory.

"We knew that this game was going to be a ding-dong battle, so I told my team from the start not to take any outside shots and drive to the basket and it paid off in the end for us," Jackson said.

"We weren't playing our ball game during the first half because we were playing their game. We made some adjustments at half-time and we got them off their running game and shut down the key which resulted in a number of turnovers by them.

"My team really stepped up, especially Under-16 player, Kemar Wright, who was one of our most outstanding players today."

Basil Barrett, coach of Ardenne High, said: "Hats off to KC because they are just better than us and they beat us every time."