Grant shot 17 points and pulled in eight rebounds

It was all joy for the Braves Chiefs' supporters at the National Stadium Courts on Saturday night, as they won their first match in the National Basketball League (NBL)/Flow competition, defeating the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) 65-56.

The Braves, who were promoted to the island's top competition last season, had lost all their previous six matches this season.

"We had an excellent training session the day before and it went really well, and, therefore, coming into this match we were really confident that we were going to win," said an emotional Ludlow Baker, coach of the Chiefs.

"The players played really hard and they stuck to the game plan and we came out victorious."

The Chiefs dominated the match from the opening whistle as they eased to a comfortable 20 points lead (39-19) at half-time.

Third quarter

However, the men from the army came out firing in the third quarter. They were inspird mainly by forward Raymond Francis, who scored nine of his game-high 21 points in the period, as they reduced the deficit to 49-39 at the end of the period.

However, the JDF were unable to maintain the momentum in the fourth quarter, when both sides traded basket for basket, as the winners kept their advantage.

Lloyd Cruickshank led the way for Braves Chiefs with 20 points. He received good support from Brian Grant, who hit 17 points and eight rebounds.

"What we were doing before that caused us to lose those games, in that we were playing good defence ,but we weren't able to score," said Baker in reference to their deficiencies in past matches.

He added: "We worked on it this week and it paid off for us because we went out tonight and the players executed well on both ends of the floor."

Jonah Atkinson, coach of the JDF said: "We didn't play any defence, hence we dug ourselves into a hole and it was very hard to come back because by this time we were down by about 20 points and this was too late."

Well supported

In the night's feature game, Majesty Gardens recorded an exciting 69-64 win over Runnin' Rebels. Baldon Todd led the way for Marland Nattie-coached Majesty Gardens team, with a game-high 33 points and seven rebounds. He was well supported by Havando Dunn, who scored 14 points. Lynford Brown 21 points and Paran Brown, 12 points and 12 rebounds, were the leading scorers for the Rebels.

The competition continues tomorrow, with a double header at the same venue. Majesty Gardens will face the JDF at 6:15 p.m. and Selassie Gardens oppose St Georges Slayers at 8 p.m.