The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

The MailBoat Cybots stunned the Commonwealth Bank Giants in game one of the New Providence Basketball Association's (NPBA) best-of-five championship series.

In an offensive battle at DW Davis gym Monday night, the Cybots pulled off a 100-91 decision over the defending champions Giants.

With a balanced scoring attack, the MailBoat had seven players in double figures as they came back from a 24-21 deficit after the first quarter to secure a 48-41 advantage at the half.

The Cybots went on to hold onto an 80-75 margin after the third quarter and they were able to maintain the lead throughout the fourth, despite the Giants making a gallant comeback down the stretch.

"I wasn't too surprised because we had a really intense mental practice," said MailBoat coach Wayne Watson. "The feeling that I got from the guys was that they really, really wanted to win it."

Notwithstanding the fact that the Cybots were just coming off a tough semifinal series with a 3-1 decision over the Electro Telecom Cybots Saturday night, Watson said his players were so confident that they were prepared to start the final on Sunday night.

"I felt as though they really wanted to win and I know they were going to come out and play hard," Watson said.

Playing just over 35 minutes, forward Eugene Bain led the charge with a side high 20 points on 9-of-14 shooting from the field and seven rebounds.

Nelson 'Mandella' Joseph, playing 31 minutes, contributed 15 points while Ernest Saunders came off the bench and had 13 points, Ahmad Bootle had 12 points, both Brian 'Tucker' Bain and Billy 'the Kid' Sands had 11 apiece and Kenzite Munnings chipped in with 10.

For the Giants, Mark Hanna led their attack with a game high 24 points in 34 minutes as he shot 9-of-16 from the field, 2-of-8 from the three-point arch and 4-of-5 from the free throw line. He also had eight rebounds.

However, Gamalial Rose, just shy by about 55 seconds in playing the entire game, shot 7-of-11 from the field, 2-of-3 from the three-point line and 6-of-15 from the foul line for 22 points and 17 rebounds.

Michael 'Fernly' Bain had 11 points while Jackson Jacob chipped in with 10. Both Raif Ferguson and Ricardo Pierre came through with nine each but it wasn't enough.

As they look ahead to game two tonight, Watson said he is confident that they can go for their second straight win.

"I think we have the capacity to do it," he said. "We just have to play Cybots basketball. If you look at the stats in the box score, it seemed like everything was in favour of the Cybots.

"The Giants normally score 100 or more points per game and we were able to hold them to about 80-plus points when Raif Ferguson was able to tear down our defense and penetrate inside to cut the deficit down to 10."

Watson said if they can keep the Giants to about 80 points, which amounts to about 10 baskets a quarter, they should be in a good position to win the series.

While game two of the series will be played tonight, the third game will not be played until April 18 due to the Easter holiday weekend.