Hawks, Vipers clash for title

Adrian Frater, News Editor

Western Bureau:

The winner of the 2010 Western Basketball Association's (WBA) Lucozade Men's Basketball Championship will be decided this afternoon, when Sav Hawks and Hopewell, who are locked at 1-1 after two games in their best-of-three finals, square off in the deciding Game Three at the Montego Bay Cricket Club in St James, starting at 6:30.

After being outgunned 61-43 in Game One, which gave Vipers a 1-0 lead in the series, Hawks stormed back on Thursday night to register a hard-fought 48-40 win to level the series and set up this afternoon's much-anticipated championship decider.

"We played badly in Game One and we came determined to put things right tonight," said Maurice Rodriques, player/coach of Sav Hawks, after Thursday's win "we will be aiming to repeat tonight's performance in Game Three and take home the title".

For the Vipers team, which was hoping to seal the title on Thursday, the defeat was most disappointing. However, having played so well after a weak start, the team is confident that they will take Game Three, and the title.

"We played badly in the first quarter and that cost us the game," said Cassandra Blake, a member of the Vipers management team. "Come Saturday (today) it is going to be a totally different ballgame."

In a most intriguing contest on Thursday, Sav Hawks dominated the early action to comprehensively win the first quarter 16-1, as Vipers struggled on a damp surface.

Vipers bounced back gamely in the second quarter to take it 9-6, but the Hawks still held a comfortable 22-10 half-time lead.

Vipers snatched the third 13-9 to trail 31-23 going into the final quarter, in which both teams tied 17-17, which was enough to give Hawks victory.

Rodriques confident

"We were not as strong as we wanted to be after the first quarter, so we will definitely have to work on that come Saturday," said Rodriques. "Once we play well in Game Three I am confident we will take home the title."

Rodriques led from the front for the Hawks, scoring 13 points and pulling down 13 rebounds. He was well supported by Dillon Hodges, who got nine points and 13 rebounds, and Kareem Hibbert, with nine points and seven rebounds.

Despite the loss, Dwight Reid, with 12 points and 11 rebounds; Granville Smith, with 10 points and 11 rebounds; and Kirk Wright, with five points and 11 rebounds, all made decent contributions for Vipers.