THESE CAVS are now a motivated bunch.
Not that they need added incentive to get up for a Lakers game.
Add one to Mpact Station Hill Cavaliers’ score in Premier League basketball’s most ardent rivalry, as the defending champs led by as many as 19 points before surviving a late rally in Thursday’s 75-67 victory over Lumber Company Lakers at the Wildey Gymnasium.
It was another classic rivalry game between the Cavs and Lakers, who share six of the last seven league titles while facing each other in four successive play-off series.
And while this latest showdown didn’t match last season’s epic final for drama, it had more than its fair share of intriguing moments as Lakers wiped all but five points of a double-digit deficit in the fourth quarter.
This was after the Cavs had already endured a third-quarter rally that saw their 43-27 half-time lead whittle down to ten (47-37).
But they appeared to have survived the worst, with Junior Moore, Kevin Sealy and Corey Williams breaking Lakers’ press for six straight points, before Sealy’s buzzer-beating banker put the champs up 58-44.
However, lay-ups from Jamar King, Adrian Allman and Ricardo Jemmott accounted for six unanswered points to start the fourth as part of a 16-8 Lakers run that reduced Cavs’ lead to 66-60.
Cavs seemingly countered that too, after a pair of baskets from Moore and Jamai Puckerin reopened their double-digit advantage inside the three-minute mark.
But King sank two free throws and Keefe Birkett followed that up with a huge triple, bringing Lakers within five (70-65) to make the game interesting with just 55.6 seconds remaining.
The deficit would have been less too had Birkett not missed two ensuing free throws, and Williams made the Lakers guard pay on the next possession by making it a three-possession game.
It was the unexpected finish to a contest that seemed anything but when the Cavs were busy running away with the first half.
Oddly enough, Lakers were the ones who held an early 6-2 lead before Puckerin led an assault that saw the Cavs score 19 of the next 25 points.
That 21-10 first-quarter advantage then became a huge 41-22 gap as seldom-used guard Roy Bolton sank three jumpers all the while Puckerin dominated the offensive glass.
Moore finished with 17 points and 16 rebounds for the Cavs, who improved to a 5-5 record after winning their third straight. Puckerin added 16 points and 14 boards while Williams scored 12.
Jemmott led Lakers (6-4) with 19 points while Birkett and Allman both scored 12.
Earlier, First Works Warriors were held to just ten fourth-quarter points while British American Insurance Jackson rolled to their fourth successive win in a 61-46 victory.
Pearson Griffith scored a team-high 12 points and combo guard Peter Alleyne had 11 points and 13 rebounds – his third straight game with a double-double – as Jackson improved to 6-4.
For Warriors, who dropped to 7-3, Kareem Farrell led all scorers with 16 points and Tremaine Shaw scored 14.
