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Holmwood thrive on home support in ISSA rural basketball
February 13, 2026
Holmwood Technical High's coach Andrew Brown highlighted that the impact of home support was enough to help them punch their ticket to the finals in under-19 ISSA rural basketball, this coming Wednesday at Holmwood.
The first-time finalists crushed Knox College 100-70 to complete a dominant sweep in their best-of-three semi-final series.
"We are an excellent home team and we have not lost a game here since last year. We had the crowd support for a good, high intensity offensive game. We are happy to get the job done today," Andrew Brown, coach of Holmwood told STAR Sports.
"We are a great fourth-quarter team who turned up the defence more in that quarter today, so that led us to generating more points," Brown added.
In the championship showdown, Holmwood will face defending champions Manchester High, who advanced in equally commanding fashion, spanking Herbert Morrison Technical High School (HMTHS) 71-35 to complete their own series sweep.
Holmwood's Melvin Ragoo scored 21 points and Denrick Jenkins 18 points. Knox's Tajay Leslie had a season-high 49 points, while Marc Anthony-Bennett scored 12 points.
In St James, the reigning champions showcased their dominance on both ends of the court, with standout player Shavar Bogle pouring in 25 points, along with three rebounds, six assists and four steals. Samuel Smith, who had a double-double, chipped in with 18 points and 14 rebounds for Manchester.
Herbert Morrison's Ryan Jurdine scored 11 points and three rebounds, while Manish Brown added six points, seven rebounds and five steals.
Damon Sullivan, coach of Manchester, admitted that the result was expected.
"Herbert Morrison were playing at home, so I expected a stronger push from them. We had enough height to take control of the game," said Sullivan.
"They basically only have one player on their team, Joshua Ferguson, who stood out but we took control of the game and we managed the game properly," added Sullivan.
In the U16 semifinals, HMTHS had three players combining for 64 points to thrash York Castle High 107-53 to sweep the series.
Defending champions Manchester carved out a 41-37 victory over Knox College to advance to the finals.
Game 1 of the best-of-three U16 rural finals is set for Monday, at Manchester High.
