By STEPHON NICHOLAS Wednesday, July 1 2009

click on pic to zoom in

TRINIDAD and Tobago’s Stephen “Lighter” Lewis dazzled Jamaica and the Multipurpose Sports Complex in Tortola, British Virgin Islands yesterday.

Lewis scored a game-high 27 points with five boards and two assists to lead TT to an 88-76 victory in the opening fixture of the Caribbean Basketball Confederation (CBC) Championships.

TT started the better of the teams with forward Lewis showing his intentions in the first-quarter with eight points to put TT ahead 18-14. Jamaican point guard Chaz Carr was forced to sit out the remaining of the match with an early injury giving TT a further advantage.

TT sought to extend their lead in the second period, sinking four 3-pointers and dominating the paint to grab a 43-26 advantage. Lewis continued to find the basket regularly, scoring eight points in the period while forward Reginald George got into the action with ten points.

But the Jamaicans rallied to reduce the deficit in the penultimate quarter, going on a 17-3 run to briefly take the lead 52-51 before the period ended all square at 58 each.

TT were not to be denied, however, and despite being late entrants into the tournament with only a two-week camp as preparation, the local basketballers showed their quality with a scintillating offensive performance in the final quarter, scoring 30 points to wrap up the victory. Lewis finished with 27 points while George had 18 and power-forward Wilfred Benjamin added 14 pts and was stellar on the defensive end with seven rebounds and a steal.

Samardo Samuels had 22 for Jamaica while Oritseweyinmi Efejuku scored 21.