Knights win first WBL title

Sheldon Pearson, coach of the MoBay Cricket Club Knights, said they were happy to get over the line to get ahold of their first Western Basketball Association Elite Basketball League title.

The Knights defeated the Falmouth Saints 90-64 on Sunday night at the MoBay Cricket Club Court to take the best-of-three series 2-1.

Antonio Spence top-scored for the Knights with 33 points and was assisted by Jhauan Bryan with 19. The top scorers for the Saints were Earldon Smith (17) and Aldane Anderson (14).

The Knights, who drew first blood in Game One (76-74) last Wednesday, were stunned by the Saints in Game Two on Saturday when they slumped to a 63-76 series-levelling defeat.

Though happy for the win, Pearson said that they would now be turning their attention to the National Basketball League (NBL).

“Firstly it’s just hard work that paid off. We had a bad game the night before, but we just put hands and hearts together and decided we were going to take it. We didn’t want to be the number-one seed

that couldn’t get over the line,” Pearson said.

“After this win, our focus now switches to the NBL play-offs and [to] see if we can get ahold of that title because we made it to the finals last year. Knights certainly will be going for the NBL title this year,” he added.

Martin Belnavis, assistant coach of the Saints, said that they were a bit disappointed not to replicate Saturday’s Game Two performance.

He believes that they would have put up a stronger fight if their top scorer and shooting guard, Michael Johnson, who is overseas, were present.

“Both teams were hungry for their first title, but the Knights team showed that they were more eager to get it done, while we were too relaxed, for some strange reason,” Belnavis said. “We had enough to get the job done, but Johnson would have made our lives a lot easier for sure. I think the backto-back games really affected us because not everyone is from the parish, and it was a lot of travelling.”