Despite their prolific forward Steven "Lighter" Lewis watching from the bench after announcing his retirement from all aspects of the sport on Monday, his former team-mates guided Laventille to a 70�66 win over Marabella United in Game-1 of the third place play-off in the Ministry of National Security Hoop of Life Community Basketball League.
The match was played at the Bayshore basketball court on the train line in Marabella on Tuesday night.
With $250,000 at stake, the host jumped out to a 17-15 first quarter lead but were outscored in the second quarter 19-16 as Laventille took a slim 34�33 at the half.
The host regained control when they outscored the visitors 22-20 to close the third period 55-54.
In the fourth quarter, Laventille, seeking to improve on their fourth place finish last season, held Marabella to just 11 points while they produced 16 to win the match by four points and put one hand on the cheque.
For Laventille, which defeated Marabella on all three previous meetings, guard Sheldon "Coto" Christian played a strong all-round game with 16 points and centre Ashton DuMurrell had 12 and guard Orlando Mapp netted ten points to recover from their two-game semifinal loss to Maloney.
Marabella has now become the only team in this season's final-four to lose three consecutive matches despite forward Ako Pascall's game-high of 31 points, his third consecutive 30-plus points game-production in the play-offs. Forward Louie Davis supported with 15 points.
Game two is tomorrow at St Barb's Basketball Court, Laventille and jump-ball is 7.30 pm.
Meanwhile, Caledonia will host Maloney in Game-1 of the three-match Championship series at the Paradise Heights Basketball Court, Morvant from 7.30 pm tonight.
Maloney booked their place in their second finals after defeating Laventille 2�0 and will be seeking to improve on their 2�1 loss to the champion La Romaine Jet Stars, while it will be Caledonia's first taste of the championship experience after placing third in 2012 and 2013.
Results
Quarterfinal
Marabella bt San Juan (111�67 & 84�72)
Laventille bt Enterprise (92�71 & 63�53)
Caledonia bt Rio Claro (85�54 & 83�74)
Maloney bt Sangre Grande (86�69 & 79�71)
Semifinal:
Marabella lost to Caledoinia, 77�73
Caledonia bt Marabella 75�67
Caledonia win series 2�0
Laventille lost to Maloney 74�65
Maloney bt Laventille 78�72
Maloney win series 2�0
Third place play-off (Game-1):
Marabella lost to Laventille 70�66
Championship fixtures
Game-1 (Tonight)
Caledonia vs Maloney at Paradise Heights, Morvant, 7.30 pm
fixtures
?
Third place play-off
Game-2 (Tomorrow)
Laventille vs Marabella at St Barb's, Laventille, 7.30 pm
Championship fixtures
Game-2 (Saturday)
Maloney vs Caledonia at Maloney, 7.30 pm
Game-3 If Necessary (Sunday)
Caledonia vs Maloney at Tunapuna, 7.30 pm