Elite league semi-finals heat up

Despite having to take the difficult route, coming from a game down to win their best of three series 2-1, newcomers Montego Bay Boys and Girls Club Warriors are confident they can get the better of top-seed MoBay Cricket Club Knights in the semi-finals of the Western Basketball Association Elite Basketball League.

Warriors defeated Sav-Elite Titans at the MoBay Cricket Club Court on Saturday to advance.

Captain and coach Levar Rose said Saturday's 81-62 win, which followed a 94-44 second-game comeback after a narrow 66-65 first-game defeat, gives them confidence as they are peaking at the right time. He also applauded the performance of Brendon Dawkins (30 points) and Tafari Vassell (20 points), who top-scored last Saturday.

"We could have won the first game, but rotated the squad to give some other players game time. In the second game, we regrouped with our usual rotation. In this third game, we kept the same rotation and confidence to win the series," Rose said.

He noted that Dawkins was not here for most of the season.

FOUND FORM

"He was working on getting a scholarship overseas, hence a lot of travelling. When he came back, he was a bit off, but he has now found his form. That was well needed because for most of the season, the scoring load was on myself and Tafari. Both Brendon and Tafari have evolved under both Dave Black and myself from Herbert Morrison days. It goes to show, once you stick to it and work hard, it will pay off," he said.

Rose is optimistic about their chances of beating Knights in the semi-finals, but admitted he will have to come up big and lead his team.

"They (Knights) boast the best regular-season record, having only lost one game. However, I think that if we play to our strength, we can beat them, not just win by a point or so. They beat us in the regular season but it was only by a free throw, so this will be a rematch of just a bad day for us," said Rose, who had a career-high 12 assists in their Saturday win. "I think it's going to be a showdown between the two guards, myself and Rayan Gardiner. I think, overall, we have more strength than they do, so it will come down to which guard can propel their team to the finals."

The next semi-finals will be another interesting encounter with the Michael Johnson-led Falmouth Saints going up against Granville Jaguars, who will be without captain Dave Black and will be looking to 18-year old David Gordon to lead the charge.

Black, who is a member of the coaching staff for Jamaica's female development team to China, will depart the island tomorrow.