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Fitch may cut UK's 'AA' rating on Brexit uncertainty

(Reuters) - Fitch Ratings said on Wednesday it may downgrade the United Kingdom’s ‘AA’ debt rating based on growing uncertainty about the negotiations between Britain and the European Union over the nation’s departure from the economic bloc next month.

FILE PHOTO: British and EU flags flutter outside the Houses of Parliament in London, Britain January 30, 2019. REUTERS/Toby Melville/File Photo

“Fitch believes that a ‘no-deal’ Brexit would lead to substantial disruption to UK economic and trade prospects, at least in the near term,” the rating agency said in a statement.

Fitch also said it may lower its ‘AA’ rating on the Bank of England if it cuts the UK’s sovereign rating.

Earlier on Wednesday, British Prime Minister Theresa May held “constructive” talks in Brussels as she sought concessions on Brexit from a skeptical EU and her strategy came under strain after the defection of three lawmakers.

In late U.S. trading, sterling extended losses briefly against the dollar following Fitch’s statement on the UK’s rating. It ended down 0.1 percent at $1.3051.

Time is running out for May to gain approval from UK lawmakers ahead of the March 29 Brexit deadline.

“For the withdrawal agreement to be approved by the UK by the deadline, the government would need to substantially widen its support,” Fitch said.

UK’s economic growth will be affected by the Brexit outcome, Fitch said. Growth slowed to 0.2 percent in the fourth quarter in 2018 from 0.6 percent the quarter before. That left real growth at 1.4 percent for 2018, Fitch said.

If Britain leaves the EU with no deal on trade, border and other issues, it faces risks of a recession that may reach the scale it experienced in the early 1990s when Britain’s gross domestic product fell by 2 percent over six quarters, the rating agency said.

Fitch said it currently assumes a “no-deal” Brexit will be avoided, with GDP growth picking up to 1.6 percent this year and 1.8 percent in 2020.

Reporting by Richard Leong in New York; Editing by James Dalgleish and Meredith Mazzilli

Defending champ Half Hollow Hills East returns to Suffolk Class AA final

The Half Hollow Hills East boys basketball players never were caught up in what they didn’t have back from their state finalist team last winter.

After graduating a senior-heavy lineup, including Newsday Player of the Year Savion Lewis, the Thunderbirds wanted to repeat last season’s success and were determined not to let anybody tell them differently.

“Teams thought we weren’t as good as last year because we lost a lot of players,” said guard Shane Dean. “But everybody, the seniors, the bench, everybody played well today and we really locked in from the start.”

No. 5 Hills East secured its chance to play for a third straight Suffolk AA championship with a 50-47 victory at top-seeded Longwood Wednesday in a Suffolk AA semifinal. The Thunderbirds (19-4) will play No. 2 Brentwood 5 p.m. Sunday at Farmingdale State College.

“We play as a team,” said Dean, who had 15 points. “We always play to win, so we look for each other. It doesn’t matter who is scoring, getting points, assists. We just want to win.”

Shamar Moore-Hough added 15 points and Max Caspi had 11 points and nine rebounds in the win.

“We knew we had those three guys, we just had to fill in the pieces,” coach Pete Basel said. “Our motto is still rebounding and run and having fun, and that’s what we’ve been doing. We knew we’ve been there before, and that was kind of the talk for us the last couple of games.”

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After Longwood opened a 23-15 lead with 4:37 remaining in the second quarter, the Thunderbirds closed the half on a 13-2 run, taking a 28-25 lead into the break. Hills East then started the third quarter on a 13-3 run, taking a 41-28 lead with 3:13 remaining in the third period.

Longwood (21-2) had a chance to tie the score, but missed a three-pointer at the buzzer. Elijah Whitty led the Lions with 23 points.

“We just wanted to control the game and get out and play as a team,” Moore-Hough said. “Coach told us to come out and play with our heart, so we just pushed and pushed and fought.”

The Thunderbirds’ goals aren’t accomplished yet. They want to win another Suffolk AA title, and have the chance to return upstate to possibly win a state championship this season.

“People doubted us, but we’re back now,” Moore-Hough said. “So it’s time to work.”

Girls’ basketball: Oxford Hills slows down Portland, reaches AA North final

Portland’s Grace Stacey has the ball stolen by Oxford Hills’ Jade Smedberg, left and Bailey Whitney during Wednesday’s tournament game in Portland. (Sun Journal photo by Russ Dillingham)

PORTLAND — After Oxford Hills took an eight-point lead into the fourth quarter, the Vikings dribbled the ball around the half-court as long as they could to try and escape Wednesday’s Class AA North girls’ basketball semifinal matchup with Portland.

Top-seeded Oxford Hills did hold on, beating No. 4 Portland 47-36 at the Cross Insurance Arena.

Before that final period, the Vikings had endured a strong two-quarter attack from Portland’s Gemima Motema, during which the sophomore scored 11 points and recorded two blocks and two steals to get the Bulldogs within five points.

Julia Colby scored four of her 12 points in the fourth quarter to help Oxford Hills advance to the AA North final against No. 7 Deering on Friday at 2 p.m. The trip tot he regional finals is the Vikings’ fifth in six years.

Colby hit three free throws in the fourth, and Cassidy Dumont hit three more to ice the game.

“They went on a little run, they were packing it in, blocked a couple shots, so we had to make a decision, and I think if we stretch them out and played a little offense that way they’d have to foul us,” Oxford Hills coach Nate Pelletier said. “I wish we made a few more foul shots down the stretch, but Julia is shooting 80 percent from the line so she’ll take the ball any day, and Cassidy shot the ball well, too.”

In the first quarter, Colby and Bailey Whitney scored six points each to help the Vikings set the tone and go on a 10-1 run that resulted in a 17-10 lead after eight minutes.

The Vikings opened up the second quarter with an 8-2 run to spread the lead to 25-12. The main contributor of that spurt was junior Cecilia Dieterich, who scored her first bucket off a great cut down the lane into a layup, then scored quickly again off a steal and outlet pass from Dumont.

Oxford Hills’ Julia Colby fires up a hook shot over Portland’s Gemima Motema during Wednesday’s tournament game in Portland. (Sun Journal photo by Russ Dillingham)

Dieterich scored seven points in the second quarter, and Oxford Hills went into halftime with a 30-20 lead.

Portland was paced by the aggressive scoring of Motema, who finished the first half with three rebounds, a steal and six points.

Motema missed the first nine games of the season due to injury.

“When I think of Gemima, I think of her starting the second half of her season,” Portland coach Gerard Corcoran said. “With her injuries and being out the first nine games of the season, right now she’s coming into where she should have been maybe two or three games in.”

Motema continued her hot streak in the third quarter with seven points, two blocks and a steal. The sophomore guard was everywhere trying to drag her team back into the contest.

To counter her scoring, Pelletier spread out the Vikings’ offense and switched the defense to try and force some turnovers.

“We went to some zone, we ran a 1-3-1 zone at one point, so it wasn’t just a one-on-one trying to match up with her because it’s impossible to match up with her one-on-one,” Pelletier said. “When we went to the zone it helped everybody out to say, ‘Hey, we are protecting the paint.’”

Portland got back within five points in the fourth thanks to a free throw and a layup by Davina Kabantu.

Colby’s layup added a few more points to the Vikings’ lead. However, they then turned the ball over under the hoop, giving Portland some more life.

“When we play well, we play well,” Corcoran said. “When we struggle, we struggle. To the girls’ credit, it was a totally different game from last year. We fought back twice to get it to five, and if we just capitalize on a couple different plays. … But they have tremendous guards.”

That’s about the time that Oxford Hills began to dribble the ball around and take as much time off the clock as it could. Portland had to resort to fouling, presumably earlier than it had hoped, and the Vikings’ clutch shooting paved the way to a win.

“Overall, at the end of the third quarter and going into the fourth quarter we were talking about how long it was going to be before we could pull this thing out and win it, and it happened to be with about five minutes left,” Pelletier said. “They’re so athletic and so explosive that we had to slow them down, and us taking minutes off the clock, it’s one way you can slow them down.”

Oxford Hills will play 6-14 Deering in the AA North final, an opponent that many did not expect to reach this far.

However, Deering’s top guard Delaney Haines, is back from injury, and the Rams took care of Bangor in the other AA North semifinal Wednesday.

“You put Haines on that team, and they’re a totally different team,” Pelletier said. “Everybody’s roles go back to what they were used to. We are going to back to the drawing board tonight and practice tomorrow and see what we can do against them.”

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