The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

The Commonwealth Bank Giants, refusing to roll over and play dead for the second consecutive game, blew out the Mail Boat Cybots by 22 points to stay alive in the New Providence Basketball Association’s best-of-seven championship series at the AF Adderley Gymnasium last night.

After they got the monkey off their backs in winning game four on Saturday to avoid being swept by the Cybots, the Giants pulled off a 111-89 victory to cut the deficit to 3-2 and live to play again on Wednesday when game six will take place, starting at 8pm. If necessary, the seventh and deciding game will be played on Friday.

“We knew that we had two key players out in Michael Bain and Kevin Hinsey, so we had to play this game for them,” said Tehran Cox, who led the Giants’ charge with a game high 26 points. “We just played it one quarter at a time and tried to stay ahead of them. We just played the way that we are capable of playing and that was up tempo.”

Cox, playing 28 minutes, shot 9-for-18 from the field, 4-for-7 from the three-point line and 4-for-6 from the free throw line to make his contribution in their balanced scoring attack. Cox also five rebounds, three steals and two assists.

Samuel Johnson stepped it up with 19 points and seven rebounds. Mark Hanna had 16 points with four assists and three rebounds, Lyndrick Storr also added had 16 points with four rebounds, David Taylor had 12 points, six rebounds, four assists and three steals and Jeffrey Henfield chipped in with 12 points as well with four rebounds.

Delvonne Duncombe scored 17 points with five rebounds to pace the Mail Boat. Before getting ejected, Eugene Bain had 15 points and five rebounds, Livingstone Munnings had 13 points, 14 rebounds and two block shots, Ernest Saunders finished with 12 points, nine rebounds, four assists and two steals and Dominique Beadle chipped in with 11 points and five rebounds.

The Giants, coached by the father-son combo of Perry Thompson Sr and Jr broke a 22-22 tie at the end of the first quarter to go up 50-37 at the half. They continued to apply the pressure in the third as they surged ahead 85-65. In that period, the Cybots, coached by Wayde Watson, lost Eugene Bain, who got ejected from the game for unsportsmanlike conduct.

At that point, five minutes and 11 seconds into the third, the Giants went on to push their lead to 67-46. On the next play, Cox canned a three-pointer and they extended their lead to 70-48. With 1:43 left in the period, Quentin Demeritte completed a three-point play and they were up by 20 (80-60) and they held onto a 85-65 margin at the final break.

In the fourth quarter, the Cybots slowly fell apart as the Giants got a couple of calls that made a big difference. Then with 2:28, the Giants benefitted from another break as Cox got a shake-and-bake play that resulted in a lay-up as they reached the century mark for a 100-78 lead.

From there, it was just a matter of what the final score would be.

“The Giants are a good team. We’re not taking that away from them,” said Cybots’ Ernest Saunders. “But all we want is a fair shake. The referees are not allowing us to play. They are taking the game out of our hands. We just want a fair shake and watch the difference in the game.”