80.7 F
Charlotte Amalie
Thursday, March 28, 2024
HomeNewsArchivesKings One Win Away from NBBA Title

Kings One Win Away from NBBA Title

The Kings moved to within one game of winning their first New Breeds Basketball Association championship by pulling away from the defending champions, Boys Dem, in the fourth quarter of game two of the best of five series, winning 82-73, Friday night at the Ronald Charles gymnasium on the Central high Campus.

The win gave the Kings a 2-0 series lead, with a Saturday night game slated that could give them a sweep.

“After losing the final game of the regular season to them, I realized our zone defense was not very effective against this team,” Coach Pidey Williams said. “After scouting them in their series against the Hoyas I saw how effective the shorthanded Hoyas were against them with the man-to-man defense and I decided to implement it into our defense. It has been very effective for us in the first two games.”

Boys Dem had to play Friday without starting forward Wilson Ferrance, who suffered an injury in game one. His replacement, Salim Ross, did a great job of filling in, with eight first-quarter points helping Boys Dem to a 23-16 lead.

The Kings’ Cuthbert Victor got hot from beyond the arc in the second quarter, hitting three long bombs to net nine points as the Kings won the period 19-18 to trail by six at the half, 41-35.

Victor continued his hot shooting in the third, erupting for 11 points as the Kings outscored the defending champs 25-15 to take a 60-56 into the final period.
The teams battled back and forth in the final quarter, but the Kings’ size and experience began to pay dividend down the stretch. The young Boys Dem began rushing their shots while the Kings began pounding the ball inside to their experienced big men, Victor and Craig “Big Smooth” Williams. Victor scored seven points in the final quarter to help the Kings nail down the 82-73 victory.

Victor led all scorers with a game-high 29 points, Pryce added 21 and Williams finished with 15. For Boys Dem, Ross finished with 26 points, Amadeus Derweer netted 17 and Rasheed Swanston followed with 13 points.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email
Keeping our community informed is our top priority.
If you have a news tip to share, please call or text us at 340-228-8784.

Support local + independent journalism in the U.S. Virgin Islands

Unlike many news organizations, we haven't put up a paywall – we want to keep our journalism as accessible as we can. Our independent journalism costs time, money and hard work to keep you informed, but we do it because we believe that it matters. We know that informed communities are empowered ones. If you appreciate our reporting and want to help make our future more secure, please consider donating.