Anthony Minott, Freelance Writer

Majesty Gardens live wire Christopher Gaynor (right) tries to dribble past St. George's Slayers Leon Chung during a KFC National Basketball League match at the newly refurbished Edgewater Community Centre Basketball Court on Sunday, July 22. St. George's Slayers won 87-55. - Anthony Minott/Freelance Photographer

A game-high 25 points from Kemar McLeish was not enough for Majesty Gardens to hold off KFC National Basketball League (NBL) defending champions St. George's Slayers, who won the game 87-75 at the newly refurbished Edgewater Community Centre Basketball Court on Sunday.

Coach of St. George's Slayers, Lamar Dixon, said proper planning for the game paid off for them.

"I said earlier in the season that the teams were getting better, so we need to do more scouting. I went and watched Majesty Gardens play in an earlier game and we knew we had to try and contain (Kemar) McLeish. (Christopher) Gaynor got on fire, but that didn't worry us as we were more focused on McLeish taking over the game," coach Dixon explained.

Gave team lead

Slayers' shooting guard Chung will his team to victory with 24 points, inclusive of a play for the highlight reel - a coast-to-coast dribble.

After grabbing a defensive rebound, he dribbled through a sea of Majesty Gardens players and cut inside his opponents' key and executed a beautiful lay-up, giving his team a six-point lead (54-46), late in the third quarter. Chung's teammate Michael Jackson also had a good game and finished with 23 points.

Majesty Gardens' Christopher Gaynor added 20 points. Gaynor, who came off the bench, was impressive in attack, hitting four three pointers and kept his team within striking distance, delivering when his team was in trouble.

Slayers led right throughout the game, winning three of the four quarters with quarterly scores of 19-14, 21-19, 20-22, 27-20. The victors had a 40-33 advantage at half-time and a 60-55 edge going into the penultimate quarter.

Impressive win record

It was, however, Chung, then former Portmore Flames player Ryan Peddlar, who sealed the game for the Slayers outfit in the fourth quarter.

"The guys were tired because they don't train. They play in spurts, the defensive aspects of the game also need to improve. They can play defence, but they don't do it for 40 minutes," said Richard Bailey, assistant coach for Majesty Gardens.

The win pushed Slayers to an impressive 10-1 win-loss record, while debutants Majesty Gardens dropped to 6-3.