Robert Bailey, Freelance Writer

DENHAM TOWN Wizards registered their third, concessive victory in the KFC National Basketball League (NBL) after an exciting 72-71 win of Portmore Flames at the National Stadium courts on Monday night.

In the night's other game, Link-Up All-Stars, led by Garfield Campbell's game-high 26 points, recorded their first victory of the season, beating Harbour View Lakers 71-55.

Campbell received good support from Leighton Meeks with 18 points. Cadine Lawrence was the top scorer for the Lakers, also with 18.

The first half between the Wizards and Flames was closely contested with the former holding a 39-32 lead at half-time. The Wizards' Anthony Farquharson scored 13 of his game-high 25 pointsin the period.

However, Flames were equal to the task in the third quarter as they stepped up their defence and cut the deficit to three points (57-54) at the end of the period.

Various changes

In an exciting final stanza which saw a number of lead changes, the Flames' Adrian Coote hit a three-pointer with less than 50 seconds remaining to bring his team within a point of the leaders at 72-71. However, that would be the final basket by either team as Denham Town held on for the win.

Farquharson received good support from teammate Dwayne Harris, who had 25 points and 14 rebounds. Kenado Smith, 25 points and six rebounds, and Coote, with 15 points and seven rebounds, were the leading scorers for the Flames.

Wayne Bartley, coach of the Wizards, said he was dissatisfied with his team's performance.

"The game tonight was really hard," said Bartley. "However, one of the things that really made it hard was that we weren't playing defence. Our defence was just very slack today," he said.

"We will be going back to the drawing board and we are going to work on our defence alone because in any game, if you don't have defence then you won't have any offence."

Kevin Pinnock, coach of Portmore Flames, said: "I think that we stuck to our game plan tonight. However, we just made a few mistakes in the end and that was what cost us the game."

The league continues tomorrow with two matches. Running Rebels tackle Majesty Gardens at 6:00 p.m. and the Wizards battle Lakers at 7:45 p.m.