Raptors squeeze b-ball Pythons

COSMIC RAPTORS just held off Pythons in a 54-53 thriller of a Second Division match in the North Zone Basketball Commission League at St Paul’s Street Multi-Purpose Complex in Port-of-Spain. The Pythons led 10-9 at the end of the opening quarter, but the scores were level 23-23 at the half. Behind Reyon Wilson’s 15 points and 12 rebounds and 13 from Raphael Soriano, the Pythons again surged into a six-point lead —  41-35 at the end of the third, and appeared to have wrapped it up. But a determined final quarter charge saw Raptors pull off the victory, outscoring their rivals 19-12 with Travis McIntosh scoring 12 points and hauling in seven rebounds, while Erroll Viala and Rodney Greaves had 10 points each for the winners. Trailblazers caged Royal Extra Lions 96-68 in the second match, with Addiki Guerra scoring 20 points, Jamille King had 17 and Dirk Jacob made 13 and 10 rebounds for the winners.

Stephen Dillon got 18 points and seven assists, Quincy Alexis sunk 13 points and nine rebounds and Kevin Glasgow scored 13 points for the Lions. Meanwhile, Defence Force hold a two-point lead over second placed Celtics and three ahead of defending champions National Flour Mills in the North Zone Basketball Commission League Championship Division. But the unbeaten champs “Flour” have played just four games to the Army-Coast Guard combination’s six in the first round. In round one Second Division, Off Limits are the leaders with 12 points, three ahead of Supligen Crusaders who have two matches in hand. Champs Courts Horizon and National Flour Mills jointly lead the women with four points each, but the defending champions have a fixture in hand before the completion of the first round of the two-round league.