HARBOUR VIEW Lakers and Blazing Panthers recorded their second wins from as many games this season in the Berger Paints Division One basketball league on Tuesday night.
The latest round of games played at the National Stadium Courts saw Lakers snaring Pure Nets 92-72 and the Panthers near-mauling Denham Town Wizards 89-71.
The Nets were hoping to rebound from last Thursday's 68-61 loss to newcomers Cumberland but were stopped in their tracks due to a solid Lakers' defence.
They held a 21-19 lead at the end of the first period and stayed ahead for a 46-44 lead at halftime, but Lakers changed their plan, scored 18 points to their opponents' 13 to put the game in their favour.
Lakers applied more pressure, and with more accuracy to their attempts, scored 30 points to Nets' 13 in the last quarter to win by 20 points.
Carl Wellington was in fine form for the winners scoring 35 points while grabbing nine rebounds. Kevin Groove and Michael Jackson shared the spotlight with 16 points each.
Tyrone Davidson did most of the work for Pure Nets top scoring with 13 points and seven rebounds.
"We went to the quarter-finals last year so we're trying to see if we can maintain an unbeaten streak then take it from there. Despite the two wins we still have some rusty areas to sort out. It's the same unit that we have and the guys are responding well to the training programme," Lakers coach Donald Jackson said.
The night's second game was equally interesting.
Blazing Panthers secured an eight-point first quarter lead but the Wizards burrowed between the gaps - particularly in the second and third quarters.
Despite this however, the damage was already done and the Panthers blazed to an 18-point victory.
Kirk Ferguson topscored for Panthers with 21 points followed by Dwayne Harris with 17 points.
Wizards' Anthony Farquharson highlighted play with a game high 33 points while his teammate Howard Clarke secured 16 points.
Panthers' coach Donald Bimmer expects his team to improve on last year's seventh place in the standings.
"There are eight newcomers in the team and although they are yet to reach a level of cohesiveness, they have gelled together so far," Bimmer said.
Action continues on Saturday with games at 6:00 and 7:45 p.m.
Denham Town Wizards will seek to reverse their fortunes against unbeaten Urban Knights in the opener while Lakers will seek to remain undefeated when they take on Runnin' Rebels following that.
Harbour View Lakers stopped the Jamaica Defence Force 69-51 on Saturday while uniform parade winners Denham Town Wizards defeated Slayers 76-49 in their game prior to Tuesday's loss.
