By Charmaine Austin, Staff ReporterIT WILL be a battle royal when Urban Knights meet defending champions Tivoli All Stars in the first game of their best-of-three Berger Division One basketball league final at the Stadium Courts tonight.
That is how Knights coach Clifford Brown sees it although his counterpart Dennis Hutchinson believes otherwise.
Said Brown: "They are defending champions and we don't expect them to lay down and play dead but I see this as a battle royal. You can expect us to play one of our better games for the season."
A confident Hutchinson expects Tivoli to win hands down. "Aggressive and positive is how we are approaching the game. Once we get to the ball they are in trouble," he said.
The Knights finished sixth in the overall standings (from eight teams) after the second round and battled their way to the final after defeating Denham Town 2-0 in the semis, winning 87-64 and 88-79.
Tivoli meanwhile, also took their best-of-three semi-final 2-0, eliminating Harbour View 67-62 and 77-69.
On paper, high-scoring Urban Knights look the better team however confident Hutchinson says on court is what counts.
"Once we are not disoriented and don't play lacklustre Urban Knights shouldn't be too hard to beat. I am confident in our defensive strength. True, they are a high-scoring team and could be hard to get by but we're not going out there to waste time or give anything away," he said.
Having evaluated themselves as a team and with good results to show for it, the Knights' armour will be a strong offence and an equally strong defence.
That and their penchant for scoring big should make this evening's 7:00 encounter highly exciting.
"It's going to be a real tough game. We have the discipline not to mention the personnel to get us through this one," said Brown. "I personally like to score and Tivoli are going to have to try and catch us once we get moving."
