This Is Guernsey

By Aaron Scoones

Pierre Jehan gets his shot away for Subaru as Jason Hooper (8) attempts to block. (Picture by Steve Sarre, 0556722)

Le Mont Saint Subaru 81, Island Under-21s 79
LE MONT SAINT SUBARU nearly had a nasty shock at Beau Sejour.

They had to come from 10 points down against the Island Under-21s to keep their Division One dreams alive. Subaru had lost in their previous run-out to title rivals Collins Stewart and need all the points they can get.

‘It was an amazing game to play in,’ said Subaru player-coach Pete Beausire. ‘At half-time I really thought we had lost the game, but in the third quarter we turned it around. We knew that if we had lost this game, our chance of winning the league was over.’

The juniors can no longer be said to be making up the numbers in the top league.

Led by captain Jason Hooper, they made it clear from the beginning that they wanted a win.

Despite Subaru taking an early 9-4 lead, the juniors were not taking that lying down.

With a number of turnovers and fast breaks, they overtook their opponents and stretched ahead to 30-21.

However, island stars Mike Beausire and Jan Renouf were not willing to see Subaru’s title hopes taken away as neither player missed a jump shot or lay-up in the second quarter.

But the Under-21s kept converting their points, with Hooper and Scott Rowe scoring at every opportunity to give them a 10-point cushion at half-time.

The third quarter saw the tables turned as it belonged to the Beausire brothers as Pete scored 10 points with fast breaks and Mike added eight to his tally.

They scored all Subaru’s points in that 10-minute period while the juniors had no answers because they got only eight.

The juniors were just three points ahead going into the final quarter and all the players seemed to know it was going to go down to the wire.

As the clock ran down, both sides matched each other basket for basket until Phil Sweet came off the bench for Subaru to score two huge jump shots and give his team a one-point advantage.

There was no looking back for Subaru now as Mike Beausire carried on his dominance of the game, scoring two baskets and being fouled on both.

He managed to convert all his free throws.

With 30 seconds on the clock, Scott Rowe scored a lay-up to bring the score to within two points.

But that is where it ended, with Subaru taking a narrow victory.

Mike Beausire top-scored with a season-high 40 points while Hooper was next on 26.

‘Michael was outstanding today, scoring 40 points.

‘He converted every opportunity and has been our key player all season,’ said Pete Beausire.