By Treiston Joseph
Many storylines can be had from this year’s Road to Mecca National Club Basketball Championship, but the one that matters most is that the Bounty Colts will defend their title against the Dyna’s Ravens on April 28 at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.
On Sunday evening both clubs won their semi-final encounters. Ravens, a club looking for redemption after the embarrassment of having to play qualifiers even after finishing in the top four last year; not forgetting they are the inaugural champs of the Road to Mecca.
The Colts, looking for history to become the first team to three-peat as champ in the Road to Mecca championship, an unprecedented feat, a dynasty in its own right.
The Ravens, up first got past the newest team on the block in the Kobras with a 73-58 win in their match-up.
It was pace from jump ball and even though the Ravens came out with pace it was the Kobras that looked superior in the first half, by holding the Ravens to just seven points in the second quarter while scoring 23 in the period to go into the halftime break ahead 34-24.
However, the Ravens found some of their old mojo and like old times used a dominating third period to storm back in the game by outscoring the Kobras 26-10 in the period.
The fourth started well but some critical turnovers by the Kobras in the final five minutes really hurt the new team and the Ravens capitalised by hitting their shot along with a two handed jam from Anthony Moe to punctuate the game.
Moe ended with a game-high 25 points and nine rebounds to go along with three blocks and two steals for the Ravens, while veteran Darcel Harris chipped in with 16 points.
Travis Burnett had 24 points for the Kobras, but had little help with no one else touching double digits in scoring.
Meanwhile, the Colts simply had fresher legs than the Victory Valley Royals (VVR) in their 84-70 win over the Linden-based side in the second semi-final.
Coming off back-to-back group wins to secure their semi-final spot, VVR looked a bit ragged despite making runs in the game that had the Colts.
However, with the game on the line in the final quarter, the Colts were just too much, outscoring the Linden side 22-12 in the final period for the comfortable win.
Shane Webster continued his ruling of the post with a near triple-double 24 points, 15 rebounds and eight blocks that went along with five steals in a stellar semi-final performance. Timothy Thompson also had a double-double with 12 points and 13 rebounds, while Shelroy Thomas dropped 17 points.
Orlan Glasgow had 20 points in the loss, while Harold Adams, last year’s top scorer, had 15 points. The Raven and Colts will now meet in the final on April 28, while VVR and the Kobras will play for third.