Phase 1 Academy and Camperdown Giants were the only two teams to go unbeaten as the 2023 Jamaica Basketball Showcase got underway at the Alfred Sangster Auditorium at the University of Technology (UTECH) in Kingston on Thursday.

Defending champions, Phase 1 Academy, entered their first game with just five players but that didn’t seem to matter as they secured a comfortable 41-27 victory over Purple Power.

Derjean Royal led the way for Phase 1 with 20 points and five rebounds while Mordecai Clarke had 10 points and six rebounds for Purple Power.

Phase 1 Academy coach, Onecia Smellie, praised her team’s effort despite their lack of numbers.

“As you can see, we don’t really have numbers so the strategy was just to conserve on defense and push on offense. We have to play smarter because we don’t have numbers,” Smellie said before going into what they needed to address to be better in the coming games.

“We definitely have to brush up on defense. We gave away a lot of backdoor cuts. As we can see, my guys have been playing for a while but sometimes when the excitement of the game comes in, adrenaline kicks in and they just go. We definitely gave away some easy layups and we weren’t boxing out sometimes. If we work on those areas I think we should be fine,” she added.

Coach Orville Bennett from Purple Power was critical of his team’s ability to play together but says more experience will do them well.

“More games will solve that. It’s a mix of my younger players and my more senior Under-19s so they need to learn to play as a team and not individuals.”

“I guess it’s because of the bright lights of the tournament, everybody wants to show what they have so with more games under their belt, that will go away.”

“Our opponents will be bigger, stronger and more seasoned then my young team so we’ll go back to the drawing board and come better.”

The day’s second game was an absolute treat as the Hoop Factory Blues pull out a dramatic 44-41 win over Blue Mahoe Basketball.

Blue Mahoe played a solid first half to go into the halftime interval with a 14-12 lead before Hoop Factory turned the game on its head to lead 26-20 after the third quarter.

Blue Mahoe retook a 38-37 lead with 1:27 left in the game before, with the teams tied at 41 with 10 seconds left, Dakari Nicolson hit a game-winning three-point shot with two seconds left to secure the win for Hoop Factory.

Kymani Phillips had a solid all-round game for the Blues with 16 points, seven rebounds and four assists and was supported well by Nathan Ricketts with 12 points, five steals and three assists. Hubert Rodney had 13 points and seven rebounds for Blue Mahoe.

Hoop Factory coach, Lennox Lindo, was happy with the win despite his team almost blowing a 10-point lead with very little time left in the contest.

“I was nervous a bit but also a bit disappointed too. We had a 10-point lead with about three minutes to go then we changed up our defense and it almost cost us the game but we got a really good shot in the last couple of seconds.”

Blue Mahoe coach, Lynford Brown, was proud of his team despite the defeat and pointed to an inability to hold on to the ball as his team’s downfall.

“To be honest, I’m really proud of my boys. They’re a fairly inexperienced and young team. There were some key moments for us where we committed some unforced turnovers which led to us losing. Nonetheless, I’m very proud.

The third game of the day saw the Camperdown Giants score an impressive 54-35 win over last year’s finalists, the Caribbean Basketball Academy (CBA).

The Giants produced an excellent defensive display to lead 30-15 at the start of the fourth quarter, including a third quarter where they held CBA to just four points.

Micah Swaine had 15 points, three steals and two assists and Mark McGowan had nine points and eight rebounds for the giants while Jaiden Brown had 12 points for CBA.

CBA coach Ludlow Barker, thought the Giants deserved to win.

“First I’d have to congratulate the Giants on getting their first win of the competition. It’s the first time they’re in it,” he said.

“I thought we played a very indiscipline game and fell behind and then we struggled throughout. I thought we were too relaxed before the game and they came out and wanted it more so they deserved to win,” he added.

Giants coach, Nylon Hurd, was happy with the win.

 “Any coach would be happy with a win. Both defensively and offensively, it worked out well for us,” he said.

“Based on the start, we got ahead of them and stuck to it. We only got a bit indiscipline in the third quarter and that’s when they made a little run but then we got back disciplined and that was the game,” he added.

After a break, play returned with Phase 1 Academy facing Hoop Factory Blues, with each team searching for their second win of the day.

Phase 1, with six players this time, were able to come out 51-40 winners.

Derjean Royal had his second great game of day one with 26 points and eight rebounds for Phase 1 while Nathan Ricketts had 14 points for the Blues.

The day’s fifth game saw Blue Mahoe hand Caribbean Basketball Academy their second loss of the day by a score of 45-44.

Akeem Pusey and Hubert Rodney both had 14 points for Blue Mahoe while pulling down seven and eleven rebounds, respectively. Joel Ricketts had 13 points and five rebounds for CBA.

The day’s final game proved to be another nail-biter as Camperdown Giants beat Purple Power 34-29 for their second win of the day.

The Giants led 8-5 after a cagey first quarter before Power turned things around slightly to lead 18-16 at the half. It was a one-point game in favor of the Giants entering the final quarter where they held their nerve to pull out the win after the two teams exchanged the lead multiple times.

Micah Swaine scored 13 points while Mark McGowan had six points and grabbed 13 rebounds for the Giants. Jacqwaine Freeman had 11 points for Purple Power.