MONTEGO BAY, St James — Holland High School held off defending champions Cornwall College 44-42 in their rescheduled ISSA/KFC Western Conference Under-19 game played in Montego Bay on Thursday to finish third in the standing.

The win improved Holland High to 16 points, one more than Cornwall College and they will now face fellow Trelawny school William Knibb Memorial in one semi-final next week, while Cornwall will face unbeaten and title favourites Muschett High in the other semi-final.

Both teams went into the game tied on 14 points knowing the winners would avoid Muschett in the semi-final as a place in the final would guarantee a place in the national play-offs.

Holland led 13-11 after the first quarter and 25-17 at half-time before Cornwall rallied in the third quarter to cut the deficit to 31-26, and continued in the fourth quarter tying the scores at 33 before taking the lead on a basket from Tevin Brown with just over four minutes to go.

The teams exchanged baskets until Clifton Shettleworth, who led Holland with 18 points, scored a runner with a minute to go to give Holland the lead 44-42.

Cornwall should have at least sent the game into overtime, but David Brown missed two free throws with two seconds to go to give the visitors the win.

Gian Grey scored 10 points for Holland in support of Shettleworth, while Kenrick Lindo scored eight points and had 12 rebounds before fouling out in the final minute.

Brown was Cornwall’s top scorer with 16 points, as well as 15 rebounds and six steals, while Alex McFarlane scored 13 points and had nine rebounds