Sport
BY GERALD REID Observer writer Sunday, August 18, 2013DEFENDING champions Urban Knights came through by the skin of their teeth to beat Spanish Town Spartans 77-75 in triple overtime in Game One in the best-of-three finals in the 2013 FLOW/National Basketball League at the Stadium Courts on Friday.Knights took a 17-10 lead at the end of the first quarter, and at half-time the scores were tied at 22-22. Despite both teams missing a number of jump shots, it was evenly contested before the Knights held a slim 36-31 lead at the completion of the third quarter.It was so close from then onwards that nobody knew who would win with the Knights going up 40-34 in the fourth and final quarter, but the Spartans applied themselves nicely to cut the lead to 39-40, and from then onwards the battle was on as the pace of the game quickened.With three minutes left in the game the scores were tied at 46, 48 and at the final buzzer, the teams were locked at 50 points, forcing the first period of overtime.The Spartans went up 58-52 and looked all over a winner, but the Knights rallied strongly with Oneil Mundle scoring a three-pointer to tie the match at 58, forcing double overtime.Another five minutes of overtime was given and it was action-packed throughout as the defending champions went up 65-60 with 90 seconds remaining. However, the Spartans never allowed the Knights to pull away and they scored to level at 65 with 40 seconds left in the game.With 4.1 seconds remaining after a time-out was taken by the Spartans, the injured Javon Bailey entered the court with the Knights leading 68-65, and in the nick of time he unleashed a long-ranged shot that went inside to force the third overtime, before the Knights prevailed 77-75.Point guard Andre Murray was the Knights’ top scorer with 21 points, including nine rebounds and four steals, shooting guard Omar Barnes had 16 points and 10 rebounds, while forward Kwame Lawrene netted 13 points and eight rebounds for the Knights.The principal scorers for the Spartans were centre Adrian Forbes with 20 points, including 12 rebounds and nine blocked shots, shooting guard Lynford Brown shot 15 points and four rebounds, and guard Bailey added 12 points and seven rebounds.Game Two of the best-of-three finals will be played inside the National Arena on Tuesday starting at 7:00 pm.
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Knights win thriller in NBL final
