Sr Rams destroy opponents in Florida Victory
According to Head Coach, Steve E. Pavilion, the team played a total of 5 games going undefeated to win the championship, “This tournament was great for us in preparation for the Caribbean High School Champions of Champions in Nassau Bahamas,” he told Virgin Islands News Online in an exclusive interview.
In game one, ESHS defeated Orlando Remix 67-56, “it took some time for us to get acquainted with each other and get the right chemistry, but we figured it out and won the game,” Mr Pavillion said.
“In game 2, we defeated Hernando Knights 60-32 as we brought the pressure full court to them all game. One of our strengths on this team is guard play and we use that to our advantage to pressure the ball,” the Rams Head coach further said in divulging his winning strategy.
Toughest Game
He said in the quarterfinals, the team manage to defeat Brandon Bolts, 62-61, but it was a close call.
“In our toughest game of the tournament, after losing an 11 point lead in the 4th quarter, the bolts took a two-point lead 61-59 with under 1 minute in the game. But our full-court defence was able to get a steal to tie the game to 61-61,” he said.
As pressure mounted, Pavilion noted that the team “Forced another steal and got foul with Antwon Robinson making one of two free throws to seal the victory to send us to the Semifinals.”
In a show of resilience in the game, he said within 15mins of the quarterfinals victory, “we were on the court again as we defeated TNT Hoops. The Rams came out firing and took the game easily going on to the championship.”
Championship level
According to Pavilion, the championship game while challenging was another easy win as that was familiar territory, “we faced the Hernando Knights again and the results were no different as we defeated them 65-49 to capture the 2019 Big House AAU College Showcase Championship for the 12-grade bracket.”
“I'm proud of the guys, they really came out and played hard. There were a lot of mental mistakes and we lost a lot of big leads but that's expected of high school players. As a coach who played at this level before, I try to understand what I was like at this age and try to reason with that, the most important thing is learning from mistakes and making it an experience to correct for a future game,” the Mr Pavilion told VINO.
He says while the victory was theirs in the end, the last day was very tough with three games in just four hours.
“It was funny because the coaches were asking how our players were so energetic. I told them island food, ESHS made a name for the BVI, as several players were placed on the radar.”
Bahamas Next
The team is now preparing to take on the High School Champions of Champions in Nassau Bahamas, April 17th - 20th 2019, where they expect another challenging but sure victory.
In addition to the head coach, accompanying the team is Assistant Coach, Jason A. Edwin and also the team's Manager, Carolann Simmonds.
Sponsors include the Ministry of Education, the National Bank of the Virgin Islands and the Coach thanked all the other people of the VI community who contributed to the success of the Senior Rams.
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