By Neto Baptiste
Defending champions Flyers Basketball took a two-nil lead in their best of five Playoffs Final series against Northside Stingerz, winning game two by an 87-75 margin when they met in the Antigua and Barbuda Basketball Association (ABBA) at the JSC basketball complex on Sunday night.
The contest got off to an exciting start with the scores level at 17-17 at the end of the first quarter but Flyers ceased the advantage in the next two quarters, outscoring Stingerz 22-20 in the second and 26-10 in the third. Stingerz claimed the fourth and final quarter 28-22 but it was not enough for their first wins.
Xavier Meade was the top performer for Flyers, sinking 34 points and grabbing nine rebounds off the bench. Kenya Ahcom contributed with 15 points and eight rebounds while there were 11 and 10 points from David Hernandez and Selassie Brathwaite respectively.
Joshua Minner was the top performer for Stingerz with 15 points and eight rebounds while Jaiden Andrew and Kareem Edwards both contributed with 11 points and five rebounds. Keroi Lee, Jayzee Saltibus and Devonte Carter all had 10 points.
Meanwhile, there was victory for Spanish Heat 2 over Old Road Daggers when they met in Division 2 of the associations competition, also on Sunday.
Daggers held a slim 23-20 advantage after the first quarter before going on to outscore Spanish Heat 21-16 in the second, building an eight-point lead at the half. Spanish Heat however stole the contest in the third quarter after outscoring Daggers 37-19 and although rebounding to claim the fourth quarter 22-19, it was not enough as Spanish Heat won the contest 92-85.
Jesus Emmanuel top-scored for Spanish Heat with 28 points while grabbing 14 rebounds. He was assisted by Kevin Pimental who sank 21 points while Ismael Palemo picked up 15 points and 13 rebounds. Gabriel Perez chipped in with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
In a losing effort, Kedar Clarke top-scored with 21 points and grabbed seven rebounds for Daggers while Braulio Lopez contributed with 15 points and four rebounds.
