Majesty Gardens' Kemar McLeish (centre) prepares to move away from Tivoli Gardens' Anthony Farquharson (45) during Game One of their NBL/Flow best-of-three Southern Conference finals at the National Stadium Courts on Thursday. Majesty won 64-59. - Anthony Minott/Freelance Photographer
Majesty Gardens will be going for the clincher on Monday evening, following their hard-fought 64-59 victory over Tivoli Gardens Wizards in Game One of their best-of-three finals in the National Basketball League (NBL)/Flow Southern Conference competition at the National Stadium Courts on Thursday night.
Captain Baldon Todd led the way for Majesty with a game-high 24 points and seven rebounds and received support from Kemar McLeish, who scored 21 points.
Anthony Farquharson, 21 and eight rebounds, and Kirk Ferguson, 14 points, were the leading scorers for the Wizards.
Marland Nattie, coach of Majesty, who were registering their first win over the Wizards in three attempts, said he was pleased with his team's performance because they played a good all-round game.
"I think it was a very good victory for us because we played a good fourth quarter," said Nattie, who is a former president of the JBA.
"We, however, have to do a lot better rebounding at the defensive end on Monday because the Tivoli team will be coming all out at us," Nattie added.
Meanwhile, Edward Marshall, coach of the Wizards, said his team did not play to its usual standard.
"We didn't perform up to par in the first three quarters," said Marshall.
"I think that Majesty was the better team and deserved victory," Marshall added.
hotly contested
The first half was hotly contested, with Majesty holding a 29-28 lead at half time. Majesty, who were beaten in the semi-finals last year, came out firing in the third quarter, which led to them outscoring the Wizards (17-9) for a 46-37 at the end of the period.
However, the Wizards fought their way back in the fourth period, courtesy of two three pointers from Ferguson, and reduced the deficit at 58-54, with less than two minutes remaining, but a number of crucial turnovers by their guards resulted in Majesty carving out a close win.