Spartans rally against Warriors to win title

SPANISH TOWN Spartans went into the home of the Pembroke Hall Warriors and defeated the title favourites 77-71 in double overtime to win Game Five of the National Integrity Action (NIA) Southern Basketball Conference (SBC) final for a 3-2 series win at the Pembroke Hall courts on Tuesday night.

Trailing 2-1 after Game Three, the Lennox Lindo-coached Spartans rallied to win Game Four 64-59 and level the series 2-2 on Sunday before turning in another impressive display in the deciding match in their opponents’ backyard to claim the title.

“After the Game Four victory, we knew it (Game Five) was going to be a tough one, worse we are here at Pembroke Hall and the fans are out. But even before going to overtime, we knew we had players of quality and experience and we stuck to the task,” said Lindo.

“We went to the first overtime and threw it away, and we went into a second overtime and we finally got it, and it’s all down to hard work,” Lindo added.

Bryan Martin and Javon Bailey were the top scorers for the Spartans with 16 points each. Martin also pulled in 27 rebounds. Gary Reid posted 15 points and 10 rebounds.

Roger Chisholm was Pembroke Hall’s top scorer with a game-high 17 points and seven rebounds, followed by Andrew Whilby with 13 points and 10 rebounds and Andy Smith with 10 points.

It was a game that went to and fro from the beginning. Spartans took the first quarter 13-11, but the hosts came back to lead 33-30 at the half. Spartans edged back in front 44-40 at the end of the third period, but Pembroke Hall took the fourth quarter 16-12 to tie the game at 56-56.

Spartans started better in overtime, but Pembroke Hall came back to level the score at 64-64. Pembroke Hall started brighter in the second overtime, but Spartans were equal to the task and when they edged in front again, Pembroke could find no answer. deliveries.

Together, they posted 213 for the sixth wicket – resetting a 33-year-old record – before they were eventually separated.

Ashwin survived the third chance of his innings about 25 minutes before lunch when he was put down on 92 by Johnson at forward short leg off a sharp chance off offspinner Roston Chase (2-70).

He raised his landmark in the second over after lunch when he hoisted Chase over mid-wicket for six.

India were in complete control at 339 for five when Cummins (3-54) returned to wreck the innings, as the visitors lost their last five wickets for just 14 runs. Three wickets then tumbled, with the score on 353. (overnight 234 for five) KL Rahul c Brathwaite b Chase 50 S Dhawan c wkp Dowrich b Gabriel 1 *V Kohli c Bravo b Joseph 3 A Rahane b Chase 35 R Sharma c wkp Dowrich b Joseph 9 R Ashwin c Blackwood b Cummins 118 +W Saha c wkp Dowrich b Joseph 104 R Jadeja c wkp Dowrich b Cummins 6 B Kumar c Johnson b Gabriel 0 Mohammed Shami not out 0 I Sharma c Johnson b Cummins 0 (b7, lb8, w2, nb10) 27 (all out, 129.4 overs) 353

1-9, 2-19, 3-77, 4-87, 5-126, 6339, 7-351, 8-353, 9-353, 10-353.

Gabriel 23-4-84-2 (w1, nb7), Joseph 24-6-69-2, Cummins 21.4-8-54-3 (w1), Holder 19-7-34-0, Chase 33-9-70-2, Brathwaite 9-1-27-0.

K Brathwaite not out 53 L Johnson run out 23 D Bravo not out 18 (b9, w2, nb2) 13 (1 wkt, 47 overs) 107 M Samuels, J Blackwood, R Chase, +S Dowrich, J Holder, M Cummins, A Joseph, S Gabriel. 1-59. Kumar 11-4-11-0 (w2), Mohammed Shami 9-1-35-0, Ashwin 13-4-17-0, Sharma 7-026-0 (nb2), Jadeja 7-2-9-0. West Indies trail by 246 runs with nine wickets intact. West Indies. N Llong, R Tucker; TV Brathwaite. - G