Win takes Lakers over Warriors

ABOUT THE ONLY thing missing from Ricardo Jemmott’s performance was a crowd-pleasing-dunk.
The Lakers faithful will settle for the way he slammed the door on Warriors.
Jemmott had six of his game-high 27 points in the last five minutes, as Lumber Company Lakers scored 14 of the game’s last 18 to survive a threatening late-game rally in Tuesday’s 80-63 Premier League basketball victory over First Works Warriors at the YMCA.
It was the fifth win in as many games for the streaking Lakers (11-4), who vaulted ahead of Warriors (11-4) for the league’s top spot on head-to-head points differential.
The result also ended Warriors’ four-game winning streak after the Dayrells Road side had yet to drop a contest in the second round.
However, that run came to a swift end when the six-foot-nine forward turned what was supposed to be the highly anticipated clash of the league’s top teams into a public showcase for one of basketball’s top talents.
And for all those present, none got a better view of the show than the first-hand look reserved for Warriors, who received a timely reminder of Jemmott’s abilities every time they tried to make a run.
But it was the last rally that proved the most painful, as Warriors actually managed to transform a 62-44 blowout into a tight 66-59 contest by accounting for 12 of the fourth quarter’s first 16 points.
Lakers gave up just a further four the rest of the way though, with Jemmott swatting two shots on the same possession directly following Corey McDonald’s triple that made it a seven-point contest.
Guards Adrian Allman and Keefe Birkett immediately responded with successive jumpers in transition before Derek Browne came up with a steal and lay-up to reopen Lakers’ double-digit lead (72-59).
Jemmott then got in the act at the other end, cleaning up a missed jumper and adding a short jumper of his own to sandwich Allman’s crowd-pleasing switch-hand, reverse layup in the open court.
It was the third time Jemmott had a hand in snuffing out anything looking remotely close to a Warriors comeback, following similar efforts in both the second and third quarters.
He was also the catalyst in Lakers’ 25-13 lead in the opening period after scoring nine first quarter points, before the Dayrells Road side began to show signs of life.
Birkett and Allman finished with 15 and 13 points respectively, while Jemmott added 14 rebounds and four blocks.  Headley led Warriors with 13 points, McDonald had 11 and Ricardo Toussaint ten.
The night’s other game between Co-operators General Insurance Tridents and Pinelands was postponed.