Pacers, UTT, NFM advance in Super Ten

Maloney Pacers, the University of Trinidad and Tobago and National Flour Mills have advanced to the quarter-finals of the Mackeson Super 10 Basketball League Knockout Tournament with wins over Valencia Heat, the Ministry of Sport Schoolaz and Police respectively. The Maloney Indoor Sports Complex was the host venue of the four matches played on Saturday. In the most exciting match Police which failed to win in its ten-match preliminary round league campaign gave up two three-pointers, while leading 65-62 with 30 seconds to lose the game. Police led the first quarter 19-16 and half-time 31-29 before NFM overturned a three-point deficit into a 52-49 third quarter lead, their first advantage of the match-up.

 

But Police regained control of the match and displayed all the determined qualities of a team that really wanted to reverse their fortunes. Police guard Darren Euin put them up 62-59 only for former national youth player Kerry McMillian to level the scorers at 62-all. Nevertheless, centre Phillip Alexander made a three-point play and Police was back up 65-62 with the clock ticking away. But after a lapse in defence, Flour Mills were allowed six unanswered points to steal the win and break the hearts of Police players yet again. For the winners, McMillian led with 17 points and seven rebounds, guard Kerry Westfield had 16 points and nine rebounds and centre Allister Martin got 14 points and three rebounds.

 

For Police, Alexander finished with 22 points, 10 rebounds, one block and three steals and Dayne Daniel added 16 points and three rebounds to close-out the team’s season. In another exciting finish, forward Kerry Celestine scored the winning basket in the final seconds for the University of T&T to secure a 69-68 rearguard win over the Ministry of Sports Schoolaz in the third match of the evening. After being put in a winning position when Nichols Pierre connected on two free-throws 68-67, Schoolaz defence failed them as UTT kept its season alive for another game, a quarter-final match against Defence Force on Monday night.