The Tribune

By TENAJH SWEETING

tsweeting@tribunemedia.net

The Commonwealth Bank Giants completely outmatched the division one Rebels in their first game of the New Providence Basketball Association (NPBA) playoffs. The matchup started off competitive in the first quarter with the Giants only beating the Rebels 27-24 to end the first period of basketball between the two.

As soon as the second quarter started for the division one teams, the CB Giants put their foot on the gas and rolled past their opponent, going up by as much as 22 points in the blink of an eye in the quarter.

In a game where the Rebels never held the lead, the CB Giants overwhelmed their competitors for a whopping 50-point lead with them leading 121-67.

Jackson Jacob, the game’s leading scorer, contributed 32 of the team’s 121 points for the game. He coupled those points with five assists and three rebounds on the night.

Jacob talked about how it felt to get the win. “It feels good to get the win and hats off to those guys, they played their hearts out,” he said.

Jacob added that the team’s strategy was to apply on ball pressure, pass the ball, run and gun, all while playing their normal game. Those team strategies were executed in the game as the CB Giants toppled their opponents in second chance points with 21 to 8, fast break points 41 to 7, points from turnovers 31 to a mere 3 points, and bench points 35 to 12. The Giants also shot a scorching 65% on the night in the paint area.

CB Giants head coach Perry Thompson Jr. talked about how his team was able to widen the margin in the second and third quarter.

“We kind of slacked off a bit at the end of the first quarter with those guys hitting some three pointers but we stuck with the plan and in the second quarter we executed perfectly and this is the result we were looking for,” Thompson Jr. said.

Jacob was not the only Giant that dominated on the night as Dylan Musgrove poured in 29 points to go along with 10 assists and 7 boards, nearly notching a triple double.

Musgrove said the team will look to go for a sweep in the best of three series by executing the same game plan as last night.

The Giants will look to capitalise on last night’s momentum on Friday at 8:30pm at the A.F. Adderley Gymnasium.

Division Two

The D2 Rockets power to 1-0 series lead over Blue Marlins

The Discount Distributor Rockets took a 1-0 series lead on the Cyber Tech Blue Marlins last night at the A.F. Adderley Gymnasium.

The Rockets defeated the team 70-63 in a game that got off to a slow start in the first quarter.

The Marlins started the game off with lots of fouls but the Rockets were unable to capitalise at the free throw line. The team shot a whopping 33 free throw attempts but only converted 15 for 46% on the night. Despite the low free throw shooting numbers, the Rockets were able to outrebound their opponents 64 to 55. Torrez Basden and Quebell Martin were responsible for 31 of the team’s 64 rebounds, proving to be a dominant duo on the boards.

Jason Oliver, head coach of the Rockets, talked about how it felt to edge out the Blue Marlins for the first win of the series. “Any win in a playoff series is a good win, especially the first game of the series based on the fact that we are actually shorthanded,” Oliver said.

The Blue Marlins were able to exploit the Rockets only having one lone reserve on the bench which led to them scoring 23 bench points to the Rockets’ eight. Oliver added that the lack of reserves meant that his players had to dig deep to pull off the win.

Keith Rolle was the leading scorer of the winning team, ending the night with 25 points. He drained two big back-to-back threes in the second quarter to halt the Blue Marlins’ momentum.

Rolle played all four quarters and was joined by his teammate Quebell Martin who notched a double double on the night, finishing with 14 points.

Coach Oliver said the team’s strategy was to let it all hang on the court because they had nothing to lose being undermanned.

The Rockets seemed to receive the message as they shot 48% in the paint compared to the opponent’s 40%.

The division two team will look to sweep the playoff series against the Blue Marlins in this Thursday night’s second matchup of the best-of-three series.