Corey McDonald emphatically told his teammates he wasn’t losing this one.
Then he personally made sure Jackson also got the message.
Basketball’s former MVP had 11 of a season-high 32 points as part of a decisive 22-10 fourth-quarter run, as First Works Warriors booked their first knockout finals appearance in five years following Wednesday’s 78-67 win over British American Insurance Jackson at the YMCA.
It was the perfect act of vengeance for a Warriors team that was hungry to repay their Premier League counterparts for a humbling league loss three weeks ago.
But no one sought, or needed, retribution quite like McDonald, who’s been a shadow of his once prolific self this season while battling knee and Achilles injuries.
Jackson couldn’t testify to those struggles though, not after watching the multi-skilled swingman score five straight free throws to close the contest and eight overall in the fourth to turn a 54-all deadlock into a double-digit advantage.
Andre Pierre was the one who actually started the rally, scoring his team’s first four of the period before a Kevin John basket gave Warriors a slight 60-56 cushion.
However, that brief run proved a mere prologue to McDonald’s flurry, which started with two key free throws and a backbreaking trey just a minute later.
And Manuel Alleng’s exit due to a gash to the head only further helped Warriors’ cause as Jackson dug themselves a double-digit hole (71-61) after going scoreless for a crucial two-minute span.
Javid Beckles threatened briefly after scoring off two offensive rebounds on successive possessions, but by that time Jackson were forced to foul and McDonald calmly put away the contest at the charity stripe.
It was the second of McDonald’s two outbursts to swing the momentum in Warriors’ favour.
And what the first explosion lacked in magnitude from the second, it certainly made up for in spectator appeal.
With Kevin Austin threatening to build a sizeable Jackson lead, McDonald delivered a clinic in outside shooting in the second quarter, knocking down three straight triples in an unbelievable one-minute stretch.
But the dogged forward was far from done, adding a long step-back jumper and another basket right before the half as Jackson held a mere two-point advantage (38-36) at the break.
This was after Jackson scored the game’s first eight points as part of a quick 12-2 lead just five minutes into the contest.
However, centre Pearson Griffith picked up two quick fouls and McDonald and Kareem Farrell battled back, while Griffith, Beckles and Alleng sat on the bench for the remainder of the period.
Farrell finished with 12 points and Pierre ten, while Austin topscored for Jackson with 15.
Nicholls Baking Company Cougars moved one step closer to the first finals appearance after rain halted play with 6:35 left in the fourth quarter with the Hothersal side leading Roll-A-Way St John’s Sonics 83-67.
Former MVP Adrian Stewart had 29 points through three periods, including 12 in the third quarter, as Cougars led by as many as 21 (77-56) after starting the second half on a 6-0 run.
Sonics managed to pull within ten (58-48) at one point in that period but Stewart, overseas-based swingman Lloyd Griffith and Godfrey Leacock combined for 26 points in the third to blow open the contest again.
The game was scheduled to recommence last night.
