ONE BRAWL, a jump kick and six suspensions.
As if this basketball season didn’t have enough shockers already, now regular upsets are joining the fray.
George Farrell had 13 of his season-high 25 points in a turnaround third-quarter to set up Alwyn Lovell’s late-game outburst as lowly Colombian Emeralds International Senators pulled off a 76-64 stunner over Pinelands in Tuesday’s lone Premier League basketball contest at the YMCA.
The win was the second in a row for the perennial league minnows, who improved to a 3-5 record and moved out of a tie for last place with the defending champions Cavs.
It was also the second time in as many games that Farrell and Lovell both scored 20 points or more in the same contest, following last Thursday’s victory against Patriots.
Opposing swingman Ramon Simmons was the one who made the early headlines though, opening the contest on a tear to score 20 first-half points and put Pinelands ahead by as many as 13 in the second quarter.
This was after intermittent showers had threatened the game’s status, having already washed out the night’s first contest.
But the only things raining were Simmons’ jumpers, which fell from just about every spot on the floor in a surreal first half that started with an 11-point first-quarter outburst.
However, Farrell quickly turned the contest on its head after accounting for 12 of his team’s first 14 points of the third to transform a 33-38 deficit into a 52-50 lead.
He started the rally with a pair of drives to the hole before hitting a huge trey as part of an individual seven-point run to open the second half.
And that wasn’t even the best of the athletic swingman, who added a dramatic fall-away jumper along the baseline for good measure prior to making his way to the free-throw line.
Pinelands were still in the contest despite Farrell’s onslaught, though, only trailing by two (50-52) heading into the final quarter.
But Simmons struggled in his one-on-one matchup with Lovell, getting shut down in the second half while watching his opposite number erupt for 14 fourth-quarter points.
Simmons’ frontcourt mate Charles Vanderpool threatened briefly in the period, but Pinelands only managed to get within seven points the rest of the way.
Lovell finished with a game-high 27 points while Andre Holder added ten points and 11 rebounds in the win.
For Pinelands, who dropped to 4-3, Simmons scored 26 points and Vanderpool had a double-double of 21 points and 14 boards.
