By Marlon Munroe
Defending champions Courts Pacesetters and national champions Wismar Pistons will contest the final of the Brusche’s Basketball Classic after easily dispatching their opponents in their semi-final matches at the Mackenzie hard court in Linden Friday evening.
In the first semi-final, Pacesetters beat Dyna’s Ravens of Georgetown 62-50 while in the second game; Glands Trucking Service (GTS) Bulls were blown out by the Pistons 66-44.
Both games were marred with easy misses and the winners were the ones to maintain their early lead.
In the first match Pacesetters stymied the Ravens on the defensive end which created pressure on their offensive efforts as they missed frequently.
After the first half ended 48-35 in favour of Pacesetters, Ravens enjoyed a 15-7 run in the third quarter until the Pacesetters shooters regained their earlier momentum.
Pacesetters’ Stephon Gillis, who was the top scorer in the game, ended with 19 points while Naylon Loncke and Hugh Arthur finished with 10 points each. Marlon Rodrigues and Ryan Stephney were the principal scorers for Ravens with 16 and seven points respectively.
Meanwhile, Pistons, at the beginning of their game enjoyed an 8-0 run because of the full court defence they employed. Their defence was solid which resulted in many turnovers for the Bulls and while Pistons capitalized on the defensive and offensive boards, many times they gave up easy points.
This continued until the intermission when the score was 27-19 for Pistons. The scoring was upped a bit in the third and fourth quarters but the quality of basketball left much to be desired. In the end Trevor Profitt top scored with 15 points, Nevin Grenville had 13 and Alistair Bynoe finished with points for Pistons.
Shane Lewis and Mark Rose each had 12 points for the Bulls.
The final and third place games will be played at a date to be announced.
