KINGSTON College (KC) and Munro College will contest this season’s KFC/ISSA National Under-16 Schools Basketball final after scoring semi-final victories over Knox College and Ardenne High, respectively, at the National Stadium Courts on Wednesday.

Munro overcame Ardenne, 57-51, thanks to 27 points and 12 rebounds from Javier Charlton; 16 points from Andrew Johnson and 11 points and 14 rebounds from Akkeim Forbes.

Javon Davis was Ardenne’s topscorer with 25 points and 19 rebounds, followed by Maliek McCarthy with 11 points.

In the other semi-final, Zachary McLeod with 14 points and five rebounds led KC to a 43-34 win over Knox. Malik Pusey gave good support with 12 points and five assists.

Knox’s Sean Pollack had a game-high 18 points and 25 rebounds, but lacked valuable support.

In the first semi-final, Ardenne started the better of the teams and led 32-27 at half-time.

But the Central Conference champions rallied in the third quarter and tied the game midway the period at 32-32. They eventually pulled away to take a 46-37 lead going into the final quarter.

The Dwayne Clarke-coached team then held off a determined Ardenne side, who won the last quarter, 13-11, to book their place in the decider.

“We came here as the underdogs but we didn’t have ourselves as any underdog… and although we started a bit slowly, once we settled down and started playing Munro basketball I knew we would win,” said Clarke.

In the feature game, KC trailed 5-11 after the first quarter but rallied to take a 21-18 lead at the half, before stretching their advantage to 37-28 at the end of the third period.

Coach Dennis Thompson said although Knox proved difficult, his team was always on top of things.

“This was a game we had to win, and they (Knox) came good, but we came better,” he stated.

Meanwhile, the semi-finals of the Under-19 competition will be played this afternoon.

At the National Stadium Courts, defending champions Hydel High go up against KC at 3:30 pm, while Manchester High, last season’s beaten finalists, and St Andrew Technical will square-off against Knox College, starting at 3:00 pm.

Both finals are scheduled for Monday at the National Stadium Courts.