RACHAEL THOMP­SON-KING

News­gath­er­ing Ed­i­tor - Sport

rachael.king@guardian.co.tt

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Cap­tain Zachary Julien led from the front, putting his team, Spar­tans TT, just one game away from clinch­ing the Boys’ Un­der-17 Di­vi­sion ti­tle in the Na­tion­al Bas­ket­ball Cham­pi­onships.

​Julien notched 30 points to help Spar­tans win game one of the best-of-three se­ries fi­nal, de­feat­ing Mal­oney Pac­ers 89-81 in a close­ly con­test­ed match host­ed by the Na­tion­al Bas­ket­ball Fed­er­a­tion of T&T (NBFTT) at the Mal­oney In­door Sports Are­na on East­er Sun­day.

​It wasn’t smooth sail­ing for Spar­tans, how­ev­er, as Pac­ers jumped to an ear­ly lead be­hind the ef­forts of Kanye George. George scored six of his 19 points in the open­ing quar­ter to put the Pac­ers ahead 18-13 at the end of the first quar­ter.

​Spar­tans, coached by Mor­gan Shade, surged back in the sec­ond pe­ri­od thanks to the com­bined ef­forts of Idri­is Mar­tin and Julien, who net­ted 11 and nine points, re­spec­tive­ly. Their per­for­mance al­lowed Spar­tans to pull ahead 37-34 at the half.

​The bat­tle in­ten­si­fied in the sec­ond half as Joshua Fontenelle and Jev­er­son Au­gus­tine came alive for the Christo­pher Jack­son-Charles-coached Pac­ers, each pour­ing in eight points. Julien coun­tered at the oth­er end with 12 points, in­clud­ing two three-point­ers. The teams matched each oth­er bas­ket-for-bas­ket, mean­ing Spar­tans main­tained their three-point ad­van­tage, 60-57, head­ing in­to the fourth quar­ter.

​In the fi­nal pe­ri­od, William Fran­cis made his pres­ence felt by con­tin­u­al­ly at­tack­ing the bas­ket and earn­ing trips to the free-throw line. His con­tri­bu­tion, along­side his cap­tain’s, helped Spar­tans pull away for the eight-point vic­to­ry.

Ear­li­er, Caris­sa Ram­di­al net­ted a match-high 31 points to pi­lot Club En­ter­prise to a com­fort­able 84-60 win over Roy­al­ty Bas­ket­ball Acad­e­my in the Girls’ U-19 Di­vi­sion. The win gives En­ter­prise, coached by Er­ic Knights, a 1-0 lead in their best-of-three se­ries.

​The point guard re­ceived sig­nif­i­cant sup­port from Melis­sa Pierre (24) and Kadence Hoyte (10). En­ter­prise con­trolled the tem­po through­out, lead­ing at the end of every quar­ter: 16-11 in the first, 40-28 at half­time, and 61-41 in the third be­fore seal­ing the 24-point vic­to­ry.

​For Roy­al­ty, which is coached by Cleve­land King, Joelle Best scored a team-high 22 points, while team­mates Jalia Best and Asha­ki Charles added 19 and 13, re­spec­tive­ly.

Game two in both di­vi­sions will be played on Fri­day at the South­ern Re­gion­al In­door Sports Are­na in Pleas­antville, San Fer­nan­do.

The fol­low­ing day, LeadLeads Mal­oney Pac­ers will try to ex­tend its se­ries against Po­lice in the Men’s First Di­vi­sion at the Mal­oney In­door Sports Are­na. On March 27, the po­lice­men won the open­er 78-73 against a nine-man Pac­ers team and will be look­ing to close out the se­ries.

Re­sults (Game 1)

Boys’ U-17 Di­vi­sion

Mal­oney Pac­ers 81 (Joshua Fontenelle 22, Kanye George 19, Jev­er­son Au­gus­tine 17, Nko­bie Ince 11) vs Spar­tans TT 89 (Zachary Julien 30, Idri­is Mar­tin 19, William Fran­cis 15). Quar­ters: 1st 18-13 (Pac­ers), 2nd 37-34 (Spar­tans), 3rd 60-57 (Spar­tans).

Girls’ U-19 Di­vi­sion

En­ter­prise 84 (Caris­sa Ram­di­al 31, Melis­sa Pierre 24, Kadence Hoyte 10) vs Roy­al­ty 60 (Joelle Best 22, Jalia Best 19, Asha­ki Charles 13). Quar­ters: 1st 16-11, 2nd 40-28, 3rd 61-41 (Al in favour of En­ter­prise).

Match­es

Fri­day

Girls’ U-19 Di­vi­sion: Roy­al­ty vs Club En­ter­prise, 7 pm

Boys’ U-17 Di­vi­sion: Mal­oney Pac­ers vs Spar­tans TT, 8.30 pm

Sat­ur­day

(Third place play­off)

Third place play­off: Boys’ U-17 Di­vi­sion: Bronx vs Roy­al­ty, 5 pm

Men’s First Di­vi­sion

Third place play­off: Strak­er Nets vs South­side Elite, 6.30 pm

Game 2: LeadLeads Mal­oney Pac­ers vs Po­lice, 8 pm