Tivoli Wizards' Farquharson

Tivoli Gardens Wizards will be looking to build on their momentum for the National Basketball League (NBL)/Flow play-offs, when they oppose Selassie Gardens in their last preliminary-round match at the National Stadium Courts, starting at 6:15 p.m.

This will be followed by a second game between the Jamaica Defence Force and bottom-place Blazing Panthers at 8 p.m.

The Wizards, who have already secured a spot in the play-offs, are second in the standings with eight wins and two losses, trailing leaders and defending champions Urban Knights, who registered nine wins and one loss. They are followed by Majesty Gardens (8-3), St George's Slayers (7-3) and the JDF (6-3).

The top five finishers will qualify for the Southern Conference semi-finals, which begins this weekend at the National Stadium Courts.

"We want to end on a winning note because I think that it will help the confidence of our players going into this weekend's conference semi-finals," said the Wizards' coach, Edward 'Ted' Marshall, whose team last won the title in 2002.

"I think that we have a good chance of winning the competition because we have a good all-round team with a very strong bench,"

The west Kingston-based team will be depending heavily on centre Andre Whilby and guards Omar Barnes and Anthony Farquharson.

Meanwhile, Rohan Feanny, coach of Selassie Gardens, which failed to make the play-offs, said: "It has been an up-and-down season because when we got promoted to the NBL we weren't able to add any players to our squad, and this has affected our performances in the competition," said Feanny.

The south St Andrew-based Selassie Gardens are 10th in the standings with three wins and six losses and, according to Feanny, they will be hoping to end the season on a winning note.

"We are still playing at the same level like a division one team and it is very difficult to get these guys to focus for 40 minutes. But this is our final match and we are going to do our best."