By Neto Baptiste
Northside Stingerz and Flyers Basketball advanced to the semifinals round of the Antigua and Barbuda Basketball Association (ABAA) playoffs after both taking two-nil series leads with comfortable wins in their first round match-ups at the JSC basketball complex on Tuesday.
Stingerz closed out their series against Ottos Full Throttle with a 107-66 game-two triumph in Tuesday’s opening clash.
The title hopefuls dominated the contest from start to finish, outscoring Ottos 27-17 in the first quarter, 25-15 in the second quarter, 34-14 in the third and 21-20 in the fourth and final quarter.
Tequan Brodie dominated the scoring off the bench for Stingerz with 22 points. Keroi Lee assisted with 20 points and 13 rebounds while Jamine Charles sank 16 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. In a losing effort, Lincoln Weekes shot a game-high of 31 points while pulling six rebounds.
Meanwhile, former champions Flyers easily beat another former champion, Braves Basketball 85-58 to close out their series and move into the semifinals.
Flyers outscored Braves 26-18 in the first quarter before dominating the second quarter 23-11. The third quarter was closely contested with Flyers having the edge to win 22-20 before going on to claim the fourth and final quarter 14-9.
Xavier Meade was the top scorer for Flyers with 23 points while Jabari Williams had 21 points and 10 rebounds all in a winning effort. T-Shawn Lewis added 14 points off the bench while grabbing 17 rebounds.
Jevon Andrew was the top scorer for Braves with 16 points off the bench while grabbing six rebounds. There were eight points each for Sergio Symister and Tamraj Stuart.
The semis will shoot off on Thursday with the opening game between Potters Steelers and Flyers scheduled to start at 6:45 pm.
