The Hopewell Vipers, with their back squarely against the wall and facing elimination, came prepared to do battle last Saturday night at the Montego Bay Cricket Club Multipurpose court in game three of the 2009 Lucozade Sport Men's Basketball Championship best-of-three Semi-finals; and as a result of hard work and perseverance was able to post the 66-60 win over mid-season champions Central Flames. The win propels Hopewell into the best-of-five Grand Finals.

In stark contrast, Vipers obviously made the necessary adjustments, and showed tremendous poise in the first and second quarters as Flames ran out to a quick 17-point lead by half-time. Flames outscored Vipers 16-6 in the first and followed up with a strong 18-13 margin in the second, providing themselves a comfortable 34-19 overall lead.

Hopewell felt that they could withstand and contain the early game onslaught, adrenaline and emotions that their team also experienced during the early going of game two, and were confident that they were in pretty good shape going into the third and particularly the fourth quarter.

The blueprint for victory clearly was to keep the game close, control game momentum and the proven veterans took over the game when it mattered. Vipers won the third quarter 20-11, slashing Flames' lead down to 6.

In the fourth, Vipers obviously bought into his game plan and executed it with precision, timely offense and hard nosed defense allowed them to level and overtake the Flames (27-15). Veteran Dwight Reid, came up big in the clutch, making a total of 27 pts; he also dished out 2 assists to go along with his 11 rebounds and 7 steals. His teammate Kirk Blake played big, totaling 18 points, 5 rebounds and four steals, while Gavin Forbes' double-double of 10 points and 15 rebounds procure victory.

Meanwhile for Flames, Craig Dorman shooting 58% from the field and 20% from three-point range finished with 20 points and 5 rebounds. Sheldon Myrie supported with 11 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 6 steals and two blocks. Kurt Dorman played big in the block, he dropped 10 points, grabbed 5 rebounds along with 4 blocks.


By Khurt Comrie for WBA Media.