By Neto Baptiste
There were wins for Spanish Heat and Rebels as they take one-nil leads in their respective Division 2 playoff semifinals in the Antigua and Barbuda Basketball Association (ABBA) competition at the JSC basketball complex on Wednesday.
In the opening contest, Spanish Heat rallied to a close 73-69 triumph over Da Project to claim the crucial game one.
Spanish Heat got off to a good start, outscoring Da Project 22-15 but Da Project rebounded to take the second and third quarters 17-12 and 23-17 respectively. Spanish Heat however enjoyed a big 22-14 fourth quarter win to end the contest on top.
Jesus Emmanuel led the charge for Spanish Heat with 29 points and seven rebounds. There was a contribution of 18 points and eight rebounds from Wilkin Floyd while Ismael Palemo sank 11 points and grabbed 15 rebounds.
In a losing effort, Bryan “Hollywood” Matthew, top scored for Da Project with 21 points while picking up nine rebounds off the bench. Eric Joseph contributed with 17 points and 11 rebounds while Tyler Jacobs sank 15 points and seven rebounds.
Meanwhile, Rebels picked up a comfortable 74-54 points triumph over Fearless Crew in the feature contest, taking a one-nil series lead in their best of three semis.
After being outscored 16-12 and 19-18 in the first two quarters, Rebels rebounded to dominate the third and fourth quarters 22-11 and 22-8 respectively, winning the contest by 20 points. Kareem Blair was the leading the scorer for Rebels with 18 points. He also snatched 12 rebounds playing off the bench. Zuri Nesbitt contributed with 17 points and six rebounds while Ryan Noel hit 14 points and 17 rebounds.
For Fearless Crew, Ronel Gomez, led with 16 points while Takeem Martin hit 12 points and 10 rebounds. Rafiki Harris picked up nine points and five rebounds.
