The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@trobunemedia.net

THE Mail Boat Cybots are now just one game away from winning the New Providence Basketball Association’s championship title. But the defending champions Commonwealth Bank Giants are not yet prepared to push the panic button in the best-of-seven series.

The Cybots took a commanding 3-1 lead in the series at the AF Adderley Gym on Monday night after they nipped the Giants 95-94. And the Mail Boat could win the title if they win tonight’s 8pm matchup.

“One thing I was really impressed with was the fact that the guys didn’t give up,” said Mail Boat’s head coach Wayde Watson. “They could have very well given up, but they didn’t. They stuck with it. They played defense to the core. We made some turnovers that could have cost us the game, but the person who made the turnovers came right back and made two crucial big stops.

“So I was very impressed with their tenacity and their resilience. But I still think the Giants are scoring too much points. We are trying to hold them to under 80 points per game. If we can get to that goal, we can be very, very successful against them.”

Giants’ head coach Perry Thompson said it was an expensive loss, but once they maintain their composure, they can get back in the series.

“We just have to remain focused for 40 minutes and be disciplined,” Thompson said. “When we lack discipline, it cost us two games by one point. You draw up the ideal play and the guys walk out of a time-out and do what they want to do. Unfortunately, it backfired, so hopefully we will learn from this expensive loss.

“I told the guys we just have to put that game away because there’s nothing we can do about it. Let’s take it off our minds and get focused and try to find a way to keep things alive for ourselves. We just have to come back and play better defensively and do a better job of controlling the ball and hitting the free throws.”

In another high scoring affair coming on the heels of their 117-112 triple overtime loss to the Giants in game three Saturday night to trim the deficit to 2-1, the Cybots got a pair of free throws with nine seconds left on the clock from Brian ‘Tucker’ Bain to seal the victory to enable them to snatch the 3-1 lead.

Bain ended up scoring 16 points, while Eugene Bain had another big game with 23 points, 12 rebounds and four assists. Nelson ‘Mandella’ Joseph had 12 points with eight rebounds, Ahmad Bootle also had 12 points and David Taylor chipped in with 10. Both Jermaine Storr and Billy Sands added six apiece.

For the Giants, Gamaliel Rose scored a game high 26 points with 13 rebounds, Mark Hanna had 22 points and six rebounds, Michael Bain 13 points, Ricardo Pierre 10 points and Adrian Miller eight in the loss.

The Giants took an 18-14 lead after the first quarter only to watch as the Cybots rallied back for a 42-39 deficit at the half.

In the third quarter, the Cybots outscored the Giants 31-22 to surge ahead 70-64 at the end of the third. The Giants responded by tying the score at 77-77 and it was tied again at 81, 88, 91, 93 and 94 before the Cybots made the final push to get over the edge.

As they head into game five tonight, Watson said if they can capitalise on their help defensively, they should be okay.

“I see the hunger in those guys’ faces. They didn’t celebrate after the win. They said coach ‘we’re not finished yet.’ So they understand what it is we have to do,” Watson said. “They understand who we are playing against. Once bitten, twice shy, so we are going to be ready to close it out.

“We have to be aggressive from start to finish. Once we take the lead we have to be able to maintain it and go on to win it.”

Thompson said they are not done yet and they intend to make the necessary adjustments for tonight.

“We talked about making some minor adjustments, nothing major,” Thompson said. “We will make some adjustments personal wise and just try to go more defensively rather than offensively, especially with our guards up top. That has been hurting us somewhat, so we have to make some adjustments and see how that works out.”

If Commonwealth Bank survives, they will play game six on Friday. If the Mail Boat succeed, they will celebrate as the new champions.