PURE NETS and Tivoli All Stars hold the advantage going into the second of the best-of-three Berger Division one basketball semi-finals at the National Stadium Courts this evening but will not have it easy."Think again," their respective opponents advised.
Pure Nets meet Urban Knights at 5:00 p.m. while Aqua go up against Tivoli afterwards.
The National Stadium Court venue where the matches will again be played was brought to life on Friday night when Pure Nets upset mid-season champions Urban Knights 72-69. There was no surprise in the other game which saw defending champions Tivoli restraining ferocious Aqua Youth 74-59.
"We lost the first game but we are very confident going into the second," Pure Nets' coach Phillip Grandison said.
It is the first time in the competition's history that Pure Nets have reached so far and Grandison says they have no intention of stopping now.
"Getting to this point wasn't easy and we have no intention of turning back now. Determination and will power will carry us through. We have a sound game plan so Urban Knights better watch out because we are going to win again," he said.
Urban Knights started slowly in Friday's game scoring only nine points to Pure Nets' 13 in the first quarter.
Lancelot Grandison (18 points, six rebounds) and Duken Brown (15 points, eight rebounds) helped steer the Knights to 33-32 and 57-55 leads at the end of the second and third periods.
Despite the Knights' attempt to keep the game within reach, Pure Nets went into offensive overdrive and scored 17 points to their opponent's 12 in the last spell to narrowly grab victory.
Tivoli predictably won the other game but they got a scare midway through their encounter when Aqua broke time after time and got some easy lay-ups to cut the lead to five points.
It was 24-16 to the West Kingston team after the first spell but at halftime Aqua Youth converted two more points than the Dennis Hutchinson-coached side to trail 41-35.
Tivoli were hounded in the third quarter when Aqua, through top scorers Kirk Ferguson (15 points, six rebounds) and stylish Dwayne Harris who also had 15 points and six rebounds, netted consistently to stay within striking distance. They never got a chance to get closer as with the scoreboard reading 49-44, Tivoli called a time-out to formulate a new plan of action and it was with renewed vigour that they re-took the court.
Richard Andrew's game high 26 points and David Martin's 21 points, six assists, seven steals and seven rebounds more than sufficed as the defending champions romped to their 15-point victory.
"They may have won this one (the first game) but we won't make it so easy for them in the next game," Aqua's captain, Jason James, said.
"We definitely have to try and win this one. We are out to prove that we are just as good as any other team out there. Nobody is expecting us to get too far so it's basically to just prove a point.
"Our plan today is to work with the same plan from the previous game and remain consistent. We're going in focussed and ready to play a hard basketball game," James said.
- Charmaine Austin
