The St. Croix Boys All Stars and the St. Thomas Girls All Stars were the winners at the 14th annual Sun Stroke All V.I. Basketball championships played at the Ronald Charles gymnasium on the St. Croix Central High campus on Saturday.
While the St. Thomas girls dominated from the onset in blowing out their St. Croix counterparts, 90-45, the boys contest was a vastly different story, especially in the waning moment of the game.
Spurred on by the overwhelming support of the hometown crowd, the St. Croix Boys All Stars exploded for 28 fourth-quarter points, most of which came with less than four minutes to play in the contest, to pull out the victory to jubilation in the stands.
Stephaun Adams was huge for the St. Croix squad in the fourth quarter, scoring 11 of his 13 points in the period to help carry his team to the 75-69 win. The Classic MVP, Shomari Francis, added seven points for St. Croix in the period.
The St. Croix boys now have a 9-5 all-time series lead on St. Thomas, while the St. Thomas girls’ victory brought then on even terms with the lady Crucians at seven games apiece.
St. Croix Boys were led offensively, by Francis who finished with 20 points, Razeem Huggins had 14 and Adams netted 13 for the champs. St. Thomas boys had two players to reached double figures led by 18 points from Sekayi Petersen and 11 points and 11 rebounds from Dornel Weaver.
In the girls contest, Edidiong “Eddie” Utibe was a force in the middle as she led her team to the lopsided victory, harnessing the MVP trophy along the way.
Utibe dropped in 17 points, grabbed 17 rebounds and blocked three shots for the St. Thomas girls. Teammate Kelsey Trass also netted 17 point and Germequa Bell dropped in 13.
Kadisha Barry was the only St. Croix player double figures with 14 points. Raemisha Claxton and Jlene Martinez had nine points apiece for the Lady Crucians.
