There is no other way to describe the performance of James Town at the grand-finale of the 2012 Indomie Community Dunks than to say it was one that they would quickly want to forget.
They wallowed under the shadows of Burma Camp, Djejeano-Anafo and Kwadaso during their group phase matches.
They failed to progress past group A despite impressing in the Greater Accra regional qualifiers.
Young trainer Emmanuel Ekow Amoako was thought lessons the hard way as his tactics that he deployed on the day fell flat.
The team was bereft of ideas, lacked stamina, low motivation and looked out of sort even from their arrival at the venue.
It was as if they had been strucked by inferiority complex, looking crestfallen and showings signs of despondency even before jump ball.
Their customary late arrival once again underlined their ambitions for the title – absolute crap!
Despite their negative attitude towards the finals, they put up some decent performances against their opponents with Richmond Quanor and Emmanuel Laryea emerging as probably their best talents at the centre court of El-Wak.
When coach Amoako removed Laryea from their game with five minutes to go against Burma Camp, and despite being down, the crowd erupted with the sort of applause that made hairs on the back of necks stand up.
The power forward looked natural against Burma Camp, sinking three-pointers the way most shooters make lay-ups.
There was no indecision in his shot and every release was smooth, and genuine. Perfect guy!
There is often a coach who deserves much of the credit for a player’s development and Laryea doesn’t hesitate when asked if someone had made a huge difference with his perimeter game.
“Of course everybody knows it is my coach (Amoako). He has done a great deal of work with me and I am grateful to him,” Laryea said
“I want to build on from here and hopefully, I will go places.
“We are extremely disappointed we couldn’t make an impact but the truth of the matter is that everything worked against us.”
Their game against Cape Coast-based Djejeano-Anafo was reassuring.
It was a commanding display to effectively give a statement of claim that they may be the whipping boys, but looking into the future, they could be the next big thing.
But lack of proper and well-knitted coordination accounted for their defeat – leaving their trainer to ask some begging questions.
If not for some clutch shot from Anafo’s William Ntsiru and Isaac Kobina taking over the game late, James Town might have even pulled off one of the biggest upset in competition.
It was obvious James were not in Town despite the fact that their opponent had come into the tournament with a clear statement of intent.
For a side that managed victories over debutants Adabraka and Labadi during the regional qualifiers, one never expected them to exit the competition in such a manner.
Lack of composure and team spirit coupled with tactical indiscipline largely attributed to their massive failure.
But as long as Laryea continues his heroics, his leadership and overall ability to just be dominant especially when James Town needs it most, no amount of bad defence or poor jump shooting will crash his individual brilliance.
