Robert Bailey, Gleaner Writer
WATERHOUSE BLAZERS will take on Majesty Gardens in Game One of their best-of-three series in the LPG Southern Conference basketball finals at the National Stadium courts tonight starting at 7:45.
In the semi-finals, the Blazers swept Brave Chiefs 2-0 while in the other Majesty Gardens defeated the Liguanea Lions 2-1 to set up what should be an entertaining clash.
The Blazers will be looking to the likes of Kemar Davis and Kemar Morgan, who are the leading shot-blockers in the competition, for defence while on the offence Raymond Lade, Kirk Shaw and Gawayne Marks, all of whom averaged more than 15 points and six rebounds, are expected to do the bulk of the scoring.
Meanwhile, Majesty Gardens, the competition's highest scoring team, will be looking to their captain Baldon Todd, the league's leading scorer with 30-plus points a game, and Kemar McLeish, Chris Berry and Kemar Dennis to do the bulk of the scoring.
CONFIDENT
"I am confident, but not too overconfident of our team because I know it's a 50-50 chance for both teams to win Game One because they (Majesty Gardens) are a very good offensive team. They have some very good shooters. So we will have to find a way to counter that," said Berris Easy, coach of Waterhouse.
He also said he would be rotating his players so as to keep them fresh and ready for the All-Island finals.
"Our aim is not just to win the league, but to win the all-Island competition, because that is very important to us. It will decide if we go to the National Basketball League (NBL), so if a player were to pick up an injury in this game, I can guarantee you he won't be playing in Game Two," said Easy.
Meanwhile, the captain of the Majesty Gardens team, Todd, is optimistic about his team's chances.
"I am very confident going into tonight's game, because we are playing the better basketball at the moment. We are also the highest scoring team in the league, but not to take anything away from our opponents. I know they are a very good defensive, but we are up for the challenge and I am very confident we will win tonight's game," he said.
In the night's opening game, Braves Chiefs will take on Liguanea Lions at 6:00 in the third-place play-off.
