You Set It… We Break It!

The main objective in a basketball game is to score points by putting the ball inside the basket of the opponents and to prevent the opposing team from doing the same. This earns the team on the offence and the player either 1 Point, 2 Points or 3 Points.

From time to time in Dominica's basketball, one team – rarely both – clocks scores that reach or exceed 100 points, or a player attains a score of at least 50 points. In the case of the big team-scores it's often a case of a blow-out where, in some cases the opponents have lost by up to over 100 points!

In August 2022, Augustus "Perez" St. Hilaire, a former national basketballer, member of Nationals then Pros teams from Grand Bay, and one of the pioneers in our basketball league having debuted in the 1968 Island League casually challenged the Jump Ball columnist via WhatsApp with the following question: "BTW which team holds the all-time record for the highest score...?" He was, of course, referring to the highest team-score in Dominica's basketball, but more so in the national league.

Perez had played a DABA league match in 1978 where his team, Pros had pulverized Starlights. He contributed 42 points towards Pros' victory. Two scoring records were set in that encounter. Firstly, the highest team-score in the national league to that time, and secondly the highest player-score (to be presented later) - a whopping 58 points!

Following Perez' challenge I delved into the 'archives' which provides a reasonable picture of some of the "big ones" from teams and individuals in Dominica's basketball which comprises the national, 'schools' and community leagues.

In 1974 DABA had organized an all-day fund-raising match, and nine players amassed scores of between 100 and 168 points; the winning team clocked 955 points!

Highest Team-Scores: Possibly the eight highest team scores attained in a 40-minute match in Dominica's basketball, and for which information is available are as follows:- * No. 8 - RAIDERS 125, vs Shockers (46). The Portsmouth team registered that score in a national league Division II encounter in 1990.

• No. 7 - STAFFORD MORANCIE EAGLES 131, vs Champs (76). That score was registered in DABA's 3rd Level Division in 1999.

• No. 6 - PROS 136, vs Starlights (58). The Grand Bay team set that record in DABA's Senior Division back in 1978.

• No. 5 - CARDINALS 144, vs Owls (65) in 1991, surpassing Pros' record by 8 points.

• No. 4 - CAVALIERS 146, vs Roseau Boys' School (55). That DABA match among Division III youngsters was played in 1989.

• No. 3 - OGAN STARS of Grand Bay 160, vs Radials women's team (31). This standing record in a DABA match was set in Division III in 1985, and was more than five times the opponents' score. That year there were insufficient women's teams to have a Women's Division and so, unfortunately, Radials and Pros Sisters "felt the heat".

• No. 2 - JAM DOWN 165, vs Skill Square (27). This mammoth score (6.111 times opponents') was recorded in the 1994 Roseau Improvement Committee League.

• No. 1 - OO-WASHERS 188, vs Ross Lakers (54). Playing in the Portsmouth Basketball League in 1995 that Portsmouth-based team showed absolutely no mercy towards their counterparts from Ross University School of Medicine.

Those blow-outs ranged from 55 to 138 Pts!

Impressive Player-Scores: We have also witnessed very impressive individual scores in DABA's Women's and Men's Leagues, and in the Schools' League organised by the Sports Division. Here are some big ones and, it's ladies first:-

• ALICE JNO. JULES - 43 Pts for Radials, vs Pros Sisters in the 1986 Women's League.

• DINNIA PETER of Celtic: 45 Pts vs Trafalgar Butterflies in DABA's 1998 Women's League.

• MARCIA REYNOLD of Celtic: 48 Pts vs Jazz, in DABA's 1998 Women's League.

Passing to the Men:

• IAN BRUMANT, (Canefield) Eagles, in a 2004 DABA Division I match torched Stormers' net with 51 pts.

• LAMBERT HENDERSON of Pros, in DABA's Senior Division in 1978 burnt 58 Pts against Starlights, equaling his opponents' score.

• LENNOX JERVIER of Harks in DABA's 1982 Division I league burnt 60 Pts against Lions, outscoring his opponents by 16 pts.

• ETZOL ANDREW of Dominica Seventh Day Adventist Secondary School was like a scoring machine when he clocked 62 Pts against Marigot Foundation High School in a 2000 Schools' League match; DSDA only scored 78 points!

Remarks: There may be other very high team- or individual-scores, e.g. in the Intermediate Division and Division III but such records are unavailable. Information sourced mainly from archived newspapers.