MONTEGO BAY, St James – Granville Jaguars and Hoopers will meet on Saturday at the Montego Bay Cricket Club in what promises to be a pulsating final of the Flow National Basketball League-West, set to start at 7:00pm.

Saturday’s game will be a repeat of the mid-season final that Granville won by two points 73-71 and if this game comes close to the excitement created a month ago the fans will be in for a treat.

For the first time the champions will be decided by one game instead of the best of three that has been the norm over the years.

Hoopers booked their place in the final on Sunday after beating Catherine Hall All-Stars 62-55 ending the latter’s two-year run as champions. Granville had booked their spot in the final the previous weekend.

All-Stars finished third and will contest the national play-offs along with Granville and Hoopers.

As expected, both finalists are expressing confidence – stopping just short of predicting a win.

Dwight Clare, coach of Granville, losers in the finals last season after being unbeaten all season, told Jamaica Observer West they would be coming into the game “with a chip on our shoulders” but said they were “the team to beat in Montego Bay”.

Clare said that despite losing to Hoopers just twice in three seasons, they were not about to take any chances in the one-off final.

“We would have preferred a best of three, basketball is a funny game and on any given day anything can happen,” he said, adding “we cant leave anything to chance, we just have to put it all out there”.

The Granville coach said their record against Hoopers spoke for itself. “We were short handed in our only loss to them and we will be at full strength for the final”.

Marlon Comrie the captain of the Hoopers team quoted coach, Hubert Grant saying “the best organised team will win the final”. When asked of Hoopers were the best organised team he said: “if we perform as we should then we will win and we are confident in our abilities”.

The Hoopers team are also counting on their record against Granville as they were the first team to beat them in two seasons, 57-52, early in the season. Before that game, Hoopers were beaten by 12 points 74-62 as a dominant Granville won their first five games if the season.

Comrie said they took confidence in their slim loss in the mid season final in early June. “We were beaten by a lucky shot, the mid-season final could have gone either way,” adding the two sides had played each other enough so “we know their strengths as well as their weaknesses”.

The teams were due to meet last night in rescheduled game that could set the tone for Saturday’s game. While Granville rested last weekend, Hoopers are coming off a good win over All-Stars, a game they had to win to reach the final.

Ricardo Thomas came off the bench to score 14 points as Hoopers ran away from All-Stars in the fourth quarter as four players all scored eight points.

On Saturday, Granville are expected to be led by Leroy Lawrence who has had an MVP-like season, almost singlehandedly willing his team to the finals.

Dave Black and Levar Rose will also be crucial in Granville’s quest for their first league title while Hoopers are expected to be led by Comrie, Omar Bell and Kemmar Dean with Rayon Bolt coming off the bench.