Its official, Maloney and Caledonia will square-off for the Ministry of National Security Hoop of Life Community Basketball League championship starting on Thursday at Paradise Heights Basketball Court, Morvant at 7.30 pm.
This was confirmed after Maloney came from five points down at the start of the fourth quarter to deny Laventille 78-72 in Game-2 of their semifinal series at the Maloney Outdoor Basketball Court, Maloney on Sunday night.
Needing to win by ten clear points after their 74-65 loss on Thursday night at St Barb's Basketball Court in Laventille, the visitors opened a 20-14 first quarter lead and after two sessions of play they were in the drivers seat with a physiological 30-35 advantage.
Laventille kept extending their advantage to 57-52 in the third quarter and with six minutes to play in the fourth, they were ten points clear, but for four minutes and 35 seconds (4:35) Maloney urged on by their fans went on a 12-4 run which swang the game back in their favour and they closed it out with another 8-3 run down the stretch to seal victory.
For Maloney which defeated Laventille for the fourth time in their six meetings in the history of the tournament, centre Shawn Lawrence showed up with 17 points, Patrick Scipio added 16, Joel Theodore supported with 15 and guard Kevon Noreiga contributed 12.
For Laventille which will now play Marabella for third and fourth places, Sheldon "Coto" Christian improved from his 15 points in game-one to notch 23, guard Orlando Mapp also went five better than his 15 in the first meeting and centre Ashton DuMurrell added 11. National forward Steven "Lighter" Lewis, who had 13 in the first rubber, just scored four after he injured his left shoulder in the match.
The rivalry started back in 2012 when Laventille journeyed to Maloney and was beaten 89-61 and needed to win the return match by 29 points. They did and won by 33. In 2013, again Maloney defeated them in Maloney 95-66 and this time Laventille had to win by a similar 29 points, but came up short with an 87-69 victory and Maloney went to their first final only to lose in three-matches to La Romaine2-1.
...Caledonia reaches first final at Marabella expense 75-67
American writer, philosopher, scientist and politician, Benjamin Franklin wrote: "He that can have patience can have what he will." No one will doubt that the community of Caledonia demonstrated all of the above and after two years of finishing third their place in the finals is much deserving.
On Saturday night, at the Paradise Heights Basketball Court in Morvant, Caledonia earned the place to contest the championships and challenge for the first prize of $1.5 million. Marabella will host Laventille at Bayshore Basketball Court tonight in game-1 of the Third Place Play-off at 7.30 pm.
Needing not to lost by more than three points after beating the lone south representative Marabella 77-73 on Wednesday in front of a partisan crown at Bayshore Basketball Court, on the Train Line in Marabella, Caledonia did not disappoint their own fans on home soil.
Caledonia took controlled of the contest from the jump-ball and 23-19 first quarter lead and never looked back. With their fans cheering every point the host closed the first half with a 37-33 lead leaving their opponents to rethink their strategy.
Marabella turned to the prolific Ako Pascall in the third stanza and he delivered 11 of his 31 points as he proved that he's one of the few players could deliver on any basketball in T&T, but his effort was not enough despite his team outscoring the host 22-19. Caledonia still ended the session with the slimmest of leads 56-55.
In the fourth quarter, the game was really up for the team that wanted most and Caledonia players came up big behind guard/forward Wesley Vincent, who netted 37 points of which 22 came in the second half. He had 19 in game one. The ever consistent forward Keyon Joseph followed up his 31 on Wednesday night with 22 more as Marabella's defence fail to contain the pair. It even got worse for Marabella when forward Asfa Grant was ejected for getting physical with Joseph midway in the fourth quarter.
For Marabella which played undefeated at their home venue before their Wednesday night's defeat, has now lost back-to-back games.
The winner of the tournament will walk away with $1.5 million, while the runners-up will pocket $500,000, third placed team $250,000 and fourth place $100,000.
Fixtures
Third place play-off Game-1 (Today)
Marabella v Laventille @ Bayshore Marabella, 7.30 pm
Championship Game-1 (25th, 2014)
Caledonia v Maloney @ Paradise Heights, Morvant, 7.30 pm
Third place play-off Game-2 (26th, 2014)
Laventille v Marabella @ St Barb's, Laventille, 7.30 pm
Championship Game-2 (27th, 2014)
Maloney v Caledonia @ Maloney, 7.30 pm
Third place play-off Game-3
(If Necessary) (TBA)
Marabella v Laventille–Venue TBA, 7.30 pm
Championship Game-3 (If Necessary) (TBA)
Caledonia v Maloney @ Venue TBA, 7.30 pm
Semifinal results: (Game-1)
Marabella lost to Caledonia, 77-73
Caledonia beat Marabella 75-67
Caledonia win series 2-0
Semi final results: (Game-2)
Laventille lost to Maloney 74-65
Maloney beat Laventille 78-72
Maloney win series 2-0