Kwesi Mugisa, Staff Reporter
THE URBAN Knights cemented their status as the KFC/bmobile top team so far this season when they defeated second-place Denham Town Wizards 85-80 at the National Indoor Sports Centre (NISC) on Saturday night.
In a game that was close for almost the whole way, Knights guard Lancelot Grandison led the charge with 23 points, but he had plenty of help from Fernando Young and Linton Murray who had 16 points apiece.
Leading 19-18 after the first quarter and 43-38 at half-time, the Knights began to pull away with 6:49 minutes left in the final stanza.
With a little over a minute left to go in the fourth quarter they had opened a 10-point advantage, but Denham Town's Dwayne Harris, who topscored in the encounter with 33 points, caught fire and hit back-to-back three pointers on consecutive trips down the floor which brought them to within four. However, with the clock against them it was only a matter of time and with five seconds left Grandison's two clutch free throws iced the game.
The win over the Wizards, who got the better of them when the teams met in March, was a satisfying one for the Knights coaching staff.
"It showed us a lot about the work that we have put in so we are at a high level," said Knights assistant coach and trainer Maurice Gordon.
"It's very important to maintain where we are and we have to stay near the top. We have a lot of new players and players from last year that have now matured," he added.
MISTAKES
"We make a lot of mistakes and had a lot of turnovers on the fastbreaks and in the end that is the thing that really hurt us," was the assessment of Wizards coach Wayne Bartley, whose team was losing its third straight game.
"In the last quarter a technical foul on one of our players and the defence slacking off really affect us badly," he added.
The Knights remain in first place with a 15-2 record and 32 points, while Denham Town stay second on 13-4 at 30 points.
