MONTEGO BAY, St James — Seventh-seed Montego Bay Boys Club Warriors created a stunning upset of second-seeded William Knibb Thunders, beating them by a point, 73-72, in a thrilling finish as the quarter-finals of the Hi-Lyte Insports Western Conference Men’s Development basketball league got underway at the Montego Bay Cricket Club on Saturday.

After coming back from a 15-point deficit with a barrage of three-pointers in the fourth quarter, Thunder could have at least forced overtime, as with one second left on the clock, the experienced Huntley Duhaney missed two free throws.

Moments earlier, Warriors’ Sheldon Lyle had made the first and missed the second free throw on purpose, hoping to run out the 2.1 seconds left on the clock, but one of his teammates fouled Duhaney while going for the rebound.

Meanwhile, third-ranked Trelawny Tornadoes also advanced to this weekend’s semi-finals, beating Inner-city Avalanche by 11 points, 74-63, in the second game of the double header.

Antoniel Watson scored a game-high 29 points for Tornadoes, who led from the start, racing to a 5-0 lead and were ahead by seven points after the first quarter, 20-13, and five points at half-time, 37-32.

They increased the margin to 14 points after the third quarter, 61-47, before cruising to the win.

Watson also had 16 rebounds and two blocked shots for Tornadoes, while Daniel Henry scored 22 points, as Fabian Julian had a double-double — 17 points and 10 rebounds to lead Avalanche, while Orlon Lammy scored 15 points.

In the first game, Thunder, who were impressive in the regular season with a seven-win, three-loss record, including the only loss for Montego Bay Cricket Club Knights, were expected to make lightwork of Warriors, who backed their way into the play-offs, losing their last two regular season games.

Thunder started well and led the early exchanges, but the scrappy Warriors led by Lyle and Fabian Gifford, got into their own and led by two, 14-12, at the end of the first quarter, and a big second quarter where they outscored Thunder 20-9 gave them a 13-point buffer at half-time, 34-21.

Warriors held their double digits lead late in the third quarter when Thunder managed to reduce the deficit to eight points, 50-42, going into the fourth quarter.

A flurry of three-pointers in the fourth quarter from Michael Johnson, who scored a team-high 21 points off the bench, Martin Belnavis and Shavaughn Reid helped Thunder to catch Warriors and tie up the scores at 53-all with just under seven minutes to go.

Boys Club responded with a 6-2 run of their own, but Thunder came back again tying up the scores at 59-all and 63-all, the latter with two and half minutes to go.

Thunder led by a point, 70-69, with 49 seconds left on the clock, but Lyle scored a basket and the first of two free throws that gave his team the lead for good.

Lyle led his team with 24 points, Gifford scored 15 points, while Andrew Parkinson had a double double of 12 points and 10 rebounds.

Johnson’s 21 points were the most for Thunder, Belnavis scored 17 points and had nine rebounds, Reid scored 14 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, while before his meltdown at the free throw line, Duhaney scored 11 points and had 15 rebounds.