Anthony Minott/Freelance Photographer
Port Royal Bulls' Damion Young (right) fights for possession with St George's Slayers' Ricardo Hunt as other players look on during game one of a best-of-three series quarter-final KFC National Basketball League match at the Stadium Courts on Tuesday. Port Royal Bulls won 82-71.
LeVaughn Flynn, Staff Reporter
Tivoli Wizards and Port Royal Bulls go into Game Two of their best-of-three quarter-final series this evening, looking to eliminate their opponents and inch closer to title contention, in the KFC National Basketball League.
In Game One on Tuesday, Tivoli marched out 73-66 winners over Portmore Flames at the National Stadium courts and will be aiming to work their magic at the same venue today at 6:00 p.m.
Following that game, former champs St Georges Slayers will try and avoid a season-ending charge by the Bulls, after going down 82-71 in Game One.
In the opening game of the other quarter-finals on Thursday, Majesty Gardens went one up, beating Arnett Gardens 91-81. Majestys dynamic duo of Baldon Todd (26 points and 10 rebounds), and Kemar McLeish (27 points and nine rebounds) played true to form, leading the fifth-seed team to victory.
Fourth-seed Arnett were led by Kwame Lawrence with 21 points, eight rebounds and four assists, while Arnel Campbell had 17 points and 18 rebounds. Arnett will be playing for their season in Game Two tomorrow.
Outscoring opponents
In Thursday's late game, top seed and unbeaten Urban Knights outplayed Runnin Rebels in the second half for an 83-63 win. The game was even at 36 at half-time, but the Knights made two big runs to end the third and fourth quarters, outscoring Rebels 47-27 in the half.
The match was a far cry from the two preliminary round encounters where Knights escaped with wins only in the dying seconds.
"I thought this was the game that would have broken our streak," Urban Knights coach Calvin Martin said with a tinge of cynicism.
His remarks were distinctly similar following an 88-83 overtime win against St George's Slayers in their final preliminary round game.
"The two hardest teams to manage are the team that's unbeaten and the team that's not winning," he said. "When you're not winning, the players are disinterested and when youre unbeaten, ego and overconfidence gets in the way."
Urban Knights, however, did manage to keep their egos in check to make it 23 straight wins for the season. They began owning the game midway the third quarter when they went on a 10-2 run to end the period and go up 59-48.
Out of reach
Building on that momentum, they went on a 14-2 run to start the fourth quarter, which began with two three-pointers from Andy Smith and ended with two slam dunks from Oneil Mundle, to effectively put the game out of Rebels reach.
Smith had an all-round game with 19 points, six rebounds and six assists and Mundle had 16 points and 13 rebounds.
Fernando Young, who was effective in transition offence and on the defensive end, chipped in with 13 points and eight rebounds off the bench.
Rebels showed signs of playing like they did in the first round when they went on an 11-2 run to end the first half and tie the game at 36.
The one-two punch of Omari Greens defence-splitting drives and Lynford Browns stealthy jumpers saw them gnaw at Knights 10-point lead.
Greg Warlock was emotionally charged at the start of the third quarter as he guided them to a 46-40 lead, but it soon withered against the completeness of Urban Knights play.
Green ended with 15 points and seven rebounds, while Warlock and Brown chipped in with 14 and 12 points, respectively.
Rebels coach Pete Matthews said his team needs to muster some guts for Game Two tomorrow.
"We didn't play with enough heart and we are going to be in problems if we dont correct that," said Matthews.
