Lockhart Elementary topped its counterpart Jane E. Tuitt 47-38 Wednesday in the Housing Parks and Recreation/Department of Education 9-12 Basketball League Finals, taking a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three series.
Lockhart didn't score until halfway though the six-minute first quarter, but led 12-6 by the end of the first period. Lockhart then led 29-17 by the half.
Kendale Brathwaite scored 12 points to lead Lockhart at the half. Emmanuel Polano led Tuitt with six points in the half. Tuitt came back in the third quarter to cut the lead to four, 34-30. Polano led Tuitt’s come back as he had two massive dunks.
In the fourth quarter, Lockhart increased its lead to nine, 43-34.
Lockhart’s head coach Joann Dickerson said her team came to win.
"I wanted my team to play better defense than they did against Peace Corps, and they did," she said.
Tuitt’s game plan was to keep the ball from Lockhart’s Jan Carlos Felix. Felix was upset with Tuitt’s defense.
"I thought they fouled me too much, but that’s the game," he said. "I didn’t let that take me out of the game. I just played defense on them."
Tuitt’s head coach Lionel "Gabby" Gumbs said his team was "weak and tentative."
"We did not score and played a fast break run-and-gun game with them," Gumbs said. "Tomorrow we will try to slow them down into a half court game."
The top scorers for Lockhart were Brathwaite with 14 points, Felix with 13, Kareem Victorine with 11 and Larry Fitzpatrick, 8.
For Tuitt it was Emmanuel Polano with 10 points, Khalid Carr, 9 and Francisco Greene 8.
