Martin's dunk wins it for Straker Nets
Centre Allister Martin slammed home the game-winner for Straker Nets to register a tough 86-84 win over Stories of Success (SOS) Basketball Academy to take Game 1 of the best-in-three series of the semifinals contest. Action was in the Men's Premier Division of the Barry Stewart Basketball League which is titled "Basketball For Basketballers" and played at the Maloney Indoor Sports Arena on Tuesday night.
With 0.57 seconds left in the match and scores tied 84-84, point guard Sadiki Guerra drove from the top of the key down the middle lane, drew three defenders and simply slipped the ball to the awaiting hands of the six-footer Martin, who put down a huge dunk while being fouled in the process. This sent the Straker Nets bench into a frenzy sensing victory.
Martin (10 points) missed the free throw to complete the three-point play, and Kern George grabbed the rebound and unleashed a last-gasp long-range shot from deep into the other end of the court, but his shot missed its target, gifting the Straker team the opening win.
"The game was really tough, SOS played their hearts out," said Guerra following the match. He scored a team-high 23 points.
The SOS players will rue their missed chance of giving Straker its first loss of the season after leading by as much as 20 points (59-39) in the third quarter thanks to a dazzling shooting performance from point guard Ahkeel Boyd from beyond the three-point arc. He connected seven three-pointers overall for his match-high 36 points.
"In the first quarter, the point guard got too much of free shots. He was killing us," said Guerra. "He scored like four threes in the first quarter. Whoever had to mark the brothers had to stay close to them."
The other brother he was referring to was Ahkeem Boyd, who added 13 to SOS's score.
SOS did their homework, restricting Straker's leading scorers this season, Jeffrey Harris and Guerra, in the first two quarters while getting the jump on the more experienced team.
The Maloney-based team SOS backed by its home-based supporters, raced to a 26-14 lead in the first period and built up a 32-17-point advantage in the next quarter but with the likes of guard Joel Hinds and post player Moriba De Freitas keeping up the attack for Straker, their team rallied back to trail, 45-37 at the half.
In the third quarter, SOS mounted its biggest lead of the match 59-39 with 5.11 minutes to go in the period, but it was short-lived as Straker determined not to be upset by the young team, fought back and managed to pull within 10 (61-51) with 1.12 on the clock in the third. The period ended with SOS still in control, leading 66-55.
"The coach told us we're down by 18 points, we just have to claw back on each play, and we will get back into the game," said Guerra on the advice of coach Barry Stewart as Straker through its low-post game chipped away at the lead.
The inexperience of SOS coach Kemrick Julien showed as his team started to implode.
George was guilty of two turnovers which Straker converted into five points as the opposition came within two points, 77-75 with 4.01 minutes remaining in the match. Moments later he was one of four SOS players to foul out. The others were Ahkeem Boyd (13), Charles Williams and Brandon Kelly. Straker too had two players fouling out in Harris and Steve Williams.
Meanwhile, De Freitas tied the score (77-77) with a dunk and later went to the free throw line after being fouled. He connected one of two free throws to give Straker, its first lead of the match, 78-77. The teams continued to exchange baskets, and it was in the final play of the intense match-up started by Guerra that determined the winner. This after Boyd (Ahkeel) turned over the ball passing the ball out-of-bounds.
"We listened to our coach, and we clawed back to win the game," said a pleased Guerra.
Tonight the teams return to the court at the Jean Pierre Complex in Port-of-Spain for game two with Straker seeking to close-out and book its spot in next week's best-of-three series finale.
Detour Shak Attack will have the same intention tonight as well as it takes on Defence Force in game two of their semifinal series. Led by post player Shawn Lawrence with 19, Shak Attack defeated the Army/Coastguard combination team, 82-74.
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