Left: Oliphant ... was on fire but Bulls still lost. Right: McLeish ... led Majesty Gardens at both ends of the court.

Blazing Panthers and Majesty Gardens recorded narrow victories in the Jamaica Basketball Association (JBA)/FLOW National Basketball League on Monday night at the National Stadium Courts.

In the curtain-raiser, the Panthers registered an exciting 66-63 win over last year's beaten finalist, Port Royal Bulls. Anthony White, with 20 points and 12 rebounds, and Leighton Meeks, who scored 20 points and pulled in eight rebounds, were the top performers for Panthers. Paul Oliphant scored a game-high 38 points for the Bulls.

The Panthers were recording their third win of the season.

They have also lost five matches, but their coach, Donald Bimmer, believes they can still make the play-offs, which will involve the top eight placed teams in the 12-team competition.

"I think that we can still make the play-offs but we must win our final three matches and am I confident that we can do this, once my players step up their game," said Bimmer.

Team performance

Reflecting on his team's performance against the Bulls, Bimmer noted that he was pleased with their most recent effort.

"This is flipside of how we have been playing this season because we haven't been playing any defence in the competition, but we came back this time and held on for the victory," said Bimmer.

In the feature game, third placed Majesty Gardens, which trail Urban Knights and Tivoli Gardens Wizards, respectively, defeated newcomers Braves Chiefs 72-65, to remain on track for the play-offs.

Former national representative, Kemar McLeish, led the way for Majesty Gardens with game-high 28 points and 11 rebounds. Majesty led 43-28 at half-time.

However, the Chiefs fought their way back into the match in the third quarter, by tightening up on defence while doing well at the opposite end, as they outscored their opponents 19-14 in the period and an overall lead of 57-47.

Fightback

The Chiefs continued their fightback in the fourth stanza and actually reduced the deficit at 59-54 with three minutes remaining. That though was the closest they would get as two three-pointers by McLeish put the game out of their reach.

In terms of contributions, McLeish received solid support from Havando Dunn, 18 points and seven rebounds, and Maurice Backwood, 10 points and eight rebounds.

Brian Grant, with 19 points and 13 rebounds and Lacelles Johnson 11 points and nine rebounds were the leading scorers for the Braves, who were suffering the sixth defeat of the season.

"I think it was a good win because we are moving from strength to strength and the players are working together as a team now," said Marland Nattie, coach of Majesty Gardens.

The competition continues tomorrow with two matches, Jamaica Defence Force tackling fourth-place St Georges Slayers at 6p.m. and Arnett Gardens Rockers, taking on Runnin' Rebels at 8 p.m.