The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

THE Patron Regulators and PJ Stingers survived their respective third and deciding games in the first round of the New Providence Basketball Association playoffs to advance to the divisional finals.

At the AF Adderley Gymnasium on Wednesday night, the Regulators came from behind to knock off the Real Deal Shockers 98-91 in the clincher and will now prepare to play the Mail Boat Cybots, while the Stingers routed the Y-Care Wreckers to set up a meeting with the defending champions Commonwealth Bank Giants.

The semi-final series in both divisions are scheduled to get started tonight. The Cybots and the Regulators play in the 7:30pm opener and the Giants and Stingers meet in the nightcap. The two series will be revised when they continue with game two on Saturday.

Regulators 98, Shockers 91

Coach Don ‘Robo’ Dorsette saw Cruz Simon come off the bench and light up the nets for a game high 25 points with seven rebounds, while all five starters finished in double figures in their impressive win for Patron, the first year team in the league.

Kenneth Pratt had 19 points with 16 rebounds and four steals, Cordero Thompson had 18 points with 14 rebounds, Gameliel Rose 14 points, 25 rebounds, 11 block shots, eight assists and two steals, Carlos Thompson 12 points, four rebounds and four assists and Fabian Lightbourne added 10 points with 10 rebounds.

“It’s exciting. We’re the rookie team, no pressure on us. We just come out here and play. We understand that everybody is putting the pressure on us because of our roster, but we understand what is at stake,” said coach Dorsette.

“The Real Deal defeated us twice, so we had some respect for them. We came back and although we got hit with some injures during the regular season, we stayed humble because we know we had a team that is capable of getting the job done. They put us in a desperate mood when they won game two of the series, but we never gave up. We knew that we had to bounce back.”

And they did with revenge in their eyes. Now they have their sights set on a loftier goal and that is a chance to advance to the league championship, if they can get past the Cybots in the semi-finals.

“We’re dealing with another beast because we have to face Eugene Bain who, in my opinion, is one of the best big men on the island. So that’s another beast we have to deal with and another team we have to respect. They have a very good coach in (Wayde) Watson, who also has a game plan.

“To counter, we have a team that is full with just weapons, so we need to use our weapons wisely, pick our shots and just stay focused for the whole game and not just portions of the game. We can’t lose focus or we could end up losing like we have done in the close games that we’ve lost during the regular season.”

The match-up is exactly what the Regulators wanted as they are now going to face the Cybots and Bain, one of their close friends and former teammates.

“These are two of my sons, two of the big big men going at it,” said Dorsette, referring to Bain and also Rose, who plays for his Regulators. “For me as a coach, I know it’s going to be a task, but as a father, someone who helped to groom both of these guys, it’s going to be something to see.

“Eugene knows he has his hands full, just as well as we know we do. We know we have to prepare for him and their team because they are well-coached. But we are going to be ready, just as we were ready for the Shockers in the third and deciding game. If we can play like we did against them, we will be in a good position against the Cybots.

William Rigby pumped in a game high 30 points with 13 rebounds and six steals, Salathiel ‘Donkey’ Dean had 18 points, 17 rebounds, three assists and two steals, Floyd Armbrister had 13 points and Lamont Armaly added 12 points in a losing effort for the Real Deal, coached by James Price.

The game was tied 28-28 after the first quarter but the Shockers took a one-point (45-44) margin at the half. The Regulators went up 70-68 at the end of the third and the game stayed close throughout the fourth until Patron stepped it up down the stretch to secure the win.

Stingers 106, Wreckers 77

This one was over from the first half after PJ’s pulled away from a slim 23-22 margin at the end of the first quarter to post a 55-34 advantage at the mid-point. Y-Care went on a 25-22 spurt in the third to cut the deficit to 77-59 at the end of the third.

In a balanced scoring attack, Devon Ferguson led the Stingers with 18 points, Vernon Stubbs had 15 points and five rebounds off the bench, Batchlette LaFleur also came off the bench to score 14 points with nine assists and four rebounds, Jervonne Atkins contributed 12 points with seven rebounds, Kemsey Sylvetre had 11 points and Ian ‘Wire’ Pinder was also in double figures with 10 points and 13 rebounds.

Stingers head coach Lavardo Bowleg also got eight points with six rebounds and six assists from Able Joseph, seven points, seven assists and four rebounds from Daniel Bullard and seven points, five rebounds and three assists from Tevin Hudson.

“If we had lost this game, our season would have been over, so we came here with vengeance in our eyes,” Bowleg said. “We didn’t like how we lost game two by one point. We thought we would have swept these guys because we know we’re a much better team than they are. So we came out here tonight with vengeance because we didn’t want to go home.”

In a losing effort, Kevin Armstrong scored 18 points with 11 rebounds, Randy Williams had 17 points and six rebounds, Tavares Roker 12 points and nine rebounds and Lorenzo Carter chipped in with 12 points for Y-Care, coached by Donnie Culmer.  Leon Bain had seven points and Emeka Watson was held to just five points.

While the Wreckers are done, the Stingers now prepare for the semi-finals against the Giants.

“We just have to play Stingers basketball and try to get over that hump, our biggest obstacles. We’ve never beaten the Giants,” Bowleg said. “With the team we have and the way we are playing right now, I really feel that this could be the year that we get over the hump and finally beat the Giants.”

The winners of the two series will clash in the league championship and the right to play in the Bahamas Basketball Feeration’s National Round Robin Tournament in Bimini next month.