By LeVaughn Flynn, Staff ReporterHISTORY REPEATED itself on Saturday when Blazing Panthers beat Tivoli All-stars in the KFC/Cable & Wireless National Basketball League (NBL) Mid Season final at the National Indoor Sports Centre.
Panthers' 84-78 win mirrored last season's victory when they got the better of Tivoli. But if Panthers' coach Jason James had any control over his karma, he would have stopped history in its track.
After beating the defending champs last year, Panthers were out of sync for the rest of the season and crashed out of the play-offs in the quarter-finals.
"We came out flat and relaxed (after winning the Mid Season final last year)," said James. "We had a good team and could have easily made it to the finals."
Things are pretty much the same for Panthers this year. They are at the top of the standings with 26 points from a 12-2 record, they have an impressive line-up and defeated the reigning champs, again, in the Mid Season final.
What will be different this year?
The fact that Panthers defeated Tivoli without their leading scorer in Dwayne Harris, who is averaging 22 points per game, may be the warning sign to the other championship contenders, Tivoli in particular, that they have gotten over the hump.
"The players knew that Harris would be out and that everyone would have to step up," James said.
One player that fully understood James' concept of 'stepping up' was Kurk Ferguson, who had a game high 26 points in leading his team to cop the $100,000 prize money and the Western Sports Trophy.
"Ferguson made some key shots down the stretch," said James of his forward who was 12-23 from the field and added seven rebounds.
Duken Brown and Dave Johnson provided good support with 17 points each.
Panthers out-rebounded Tivoli 43-35 with Brown grabbing 13 of those and Dushane Whyte collecting 10.
"Our size was one of the determining factors in this game," James stated.
Neither team shot well from outside but Panthers shot 46 per cent from the field compared to Tivoli's 38 per cent. Tivoli particularly struggled from the three-point line where they were 3-24 and 13-29 from the free-throw line.
"We were terrible on free-throws," cried Tivoli's coach Dennis Hutchinson.
Levar Henry and Paul Oliphant were joint top scorers for Tivoli with 18 points each.
Reflecting on past Mid Season final appearances, Hutchinson said: "We've been to the Mid Season final for the past four or five years and haven't won any."
"This loss doesn't affect the guys, we remain focused on defending our title," he added.
Tivoli have more than made up for their Mid Season debacle by winning the league final for the past four years.
