Kwesi Mugisa, Staff Reporter
Portmore Flames' Damion Reid (second left) tries to lay-in a ball over the out-stretched arms of Urban Knights' Oneil Mundie (second right), while Andrew Whilby (right) and Lancelot Grandison look on during a KFC/bmobile quarter-final match at the Stadium Courts on Monday night. Urban Knights won 77-68 to sweep the series 2-0. - ANTHONY MINOTT PHOTO
URBAN KNIGHTS swept the Portmore Flames 2-0, but St. George's Slayers levelled the series against Link Up All-Stars at 1-1, forcing a do-or-die game three in the KFC/bmobile National Basketball League at 8:00p.m. today at the National Stadium courts.
The top seeded Urban Knights had to work hard to put away an under-staffed Flames, but eventually did so in a 77-68 victory which booked their spot in the league semi-finals.
Adrian Coote had 23 points and six rebounds and Kenardo Smith had 18 points and 11 rebounds for the Flames.
Knights got off to a solid start but the Flames kept close and things were dead even at 19-19 at the end of the first quarter.
TIMELY SHOOTING
However, the Knights, led by timely shooting from Fernando Young who had a game-high 23 points, began to pull away from the Flames and by half-time opened up a 37-29 lead.
Unable to make any inroads in the third quarter, the Flames glittered briefly when about four minutes into the fourth quarter a series of technical fouls were called on the Knights.
Young, however, restored order when he hit a couple of big three pointers to seal victory for the top seeds.
Knights coach Kevin Alexander had expected a fight from the Flames, but was displeased with the officiating.
"It was a do-or-die situation for the Flames; they wanted to force a game three so they came out shooting from the first quarter," he said.
"We got into rhythm when our running game kicked in, but I think bad refereeing decisions kept the Flames in the game. We had some trouble when some calls, atrocious calls, were made, most of them were made against us; but we weathered the storm and we are looking forward for the semi-finals," Alexander added.
Flames coach Kevin Pinnock credited his team for a gutsy performance.
"Fatigue affected the players; the players were tired and we only had seven players suited up. I just thank the players for reaching so far with the numbers that we had," he pointed out."
The St. George's Slayers showed their determination to remain in this year's play-offs when they blew away Link Up All Stars 71-56 in the night's early game.
Link Up shocked the third seeded Slayers when Garfield Campbell's heroics saw them snatch game one in the series. Kali McCarthy 22 points and Rohan Robinson's 15 points and seven rebounds made sure that today's game three was a surety.
Campbell had 13 points and nine rebounds for the Slayers, while Leighton Meeks had 19 points and five rebounds.
