The Esso Blazers are one win away from claiming their first national championship.
Esso defeated the Dominos Warriors 66-64 last Sunday at Camana Bay’s Arts and Recreation Centre. The contest served as game one in the best-of-three championship series for the Cayman Islands Basketball Association 2012 national men’s league.
Davi Cotterell, 20, split a pair of free throws to tie the match with about 50 seconds left and threw the ball out of bounds with the side up two with 0.2 seconds left. He states the victory came down to defence.
“It started on defence,” Cotterell said. “In the second half, we picked it up on defence on everything. We came back in the fourth. Sammy (Samuel O’Garro) hit two big threes and we bounced back from that.”
Sunday’s contest was a frenetic one. A huge crowd, with mostly Esso fans, made their presence felt with cheers and jeers throughout the contest. The Warriors looked to have the game in hand and had a 12-point edge heading into the last quarter. However, turnovers would add up for the defending champions and the Blazers cut down the lead to single digits.
After Cotterell tied the game, Serbian giant Borislav ‘Boka’ Djordjic missed his shot for the Warriors. On the rebound, Shaad O’Garro would come up with a steal and go-ahead dunk to put Esso up 66-64 with 11 seconds left. Dominos team captain Collin Anglin ran an isolation play at the top of the key but missed the game-tying lay-up at the rim.
On the ensuing inbounds pass, Cotterell celebrated as if the game was over and threw the ball out of bounds with 0.2 seconds left. Anglin then tried a full-court pass, which resulted in the ball being lodged in the roof to effectively end the contest.
O’Garro states he was locked in during the final period.
“I’m not going to lie, at first I thought the game was done,” O’Garro said. “But I thought about Kevin Durant and I got in a fourth quarter zone. Like him, I don’t miss and I take teams out.”
Game two of the series is this Sunday, 3 June, at 7pm at Camana Bay. Game three, if necessary, would be next Sunday, 10 June, at the same time and place. For the record, Esso are the top overall seed and beat the DHL Wolves in three games in the first round. Dominos are the third seed and are coming off a two-game sweep of the Shining Stars Childhood Care and Education Centre.
Last Sunday also saw the start of the division two finals at Camana Bay. Top-ranked team Charterland suffered their first defeat of the year as the Butterfield Shockwaves pulled off a 75-73 upset in game one.
Butterfield, who were second in their competition, are led by coach Jonathan Powery and young talents Peter Grant and Dominic Martucci. Charterland are a veteran group, behind top scorer Ovaine Monteith and Will Koutney, chasing their second straight championship.
Game two of their best-of-three series is slated for this Sunday, 3 June, at 5.30pm at Camana Bay. Game three, if necessary, would be next Sunday, 10 June, at the same time and place.
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