HYDEL High and St Andrew Technical (STATHS) will meet in Game One of the Southern Conference basketball best-of-three finals this afternoon after winning their respective semi-finals against Kingston College (KC) and Meadowbrook at the Stadium Courts on Monday.

Hydel turned back the fancied KC, 58-42, to book their place in the decider, while STATHS came from behind to defeat surprise package Meadowbrook, 64-41.

Meanwhile, defending champions Ardenne and St Jago High will contest the junior final after victories over St George’s College and Calabar, respectively.

In the feature match, Hydel raced into an early lead against their more favoured opponents and never looked back.

The Kurt Stewart-coached boys took a 15-7 lead after the first-quarter; however, KC stepped up their game to reduce the deficit to one point (25-24) at half-time.

Hydel regained the ascendency in the third period, taking it 13-8, to lead 37-26 entering the last quarter.

But again, KC showed remarkable fight to cut Hydel’s lead to two points (43-41) midway the final stanza. However, Hydel regained their rhythm and went on to establish a 16-points lead at the end.

Stewart said his team turned in a near perfect performance in the contest: “The boys really executed well and this is probably the best game we played all season,” he said.

“… We wanted to make sure we slowed down the best point guard (Ramoy Hemmings) in the league… KC have the top point guard, and we slowed him down,” he said.

In the other semi-final, STATHS recovered from a poor start to get the better of underdogs Meadowbrook, who started well and led 12-2 midway the first quarter.

However, STATHS clawed their way back into contention and trailed 10-12 at the end of the quarter.

The second quarter was also keenly contested as the unbeaten STATHS barely outscored their opponents, 15-12, to take a 25-24 lead at half-time.

STATHS had the better of their opponents in the third quarter, taking the period 18-13, for a 43-37 lead.

But in the final quarter Meadowbrook failed to compete, thus allowing STATHS to wrap-up the stanza, 21-4, for a comfortable 64-41 victory.

In the junior semis, Ardenne stopped St George’s, 49-42, thanks to 12 points each from Javon Davis and Donald Hinds. Davis also had 10 rebounds and 11 steals, while Hinds pulled nine rebounds.

St George’s Jhawn Graham was the game’s topscorer with 17 points.

In the other game, St Jago — with 12 points from Kashieff Clarke and 12 rebounds from Hakeem Dixon — turned back the high-flying Calabar, 24-21.