SPANISH Town Spartans defeated defending champions Urban Knights 67-49 points to capture the 2013 FLOW/National Basketball League Southern Conference title in the Alfred Sangster Auditorium at the University of Technology (UTech) last Thursday night.

Spartans were winning their second straight title against the dethroned defending champions Knights, having first done so in the mid-season final 67-64 two weeks ago.

Both teams came out winners of their respective zones after the teams were divided into two zones from the preliminary round, where they played each other once.

Knights were looking to avenge their mid-season final defeat as the Kevin Alexander-coached team and the Calvin Martin-coached Spartans from St Catherine were in a tight first quarter that saw the dethroned champions leading at the break, 14-13.

Spartans found the going much better in the second quarter as the duo of Lynford Brown and Adrian Forbes came into their own against the trio of Kwame Lawrence, Omar Barnes and Andre Murray, the key players for the Knights.

But it was Spartans who took the lead and gradually began to have the better of the defending champions as they rushed for baskets. The half-time break saw the Spartans leading 29-24.

The Knights needed to hold their own in the third quarter and not allow the Spartans to pull away from them. However, it was the newlycrowned champions who were more in confident with better shootings than the former champions. Again it was the duo of Brown and Forbes who were the key to Spartans’ win as they outscored their opponents 16-11 to lead at the final break 47-35 points.

It was now or never for defending champions Knights as they needed their star players to lift their game in a move to cut the Spartans’ lead. The Spartans never allowed the Knights to find any rhythm as they kept the pressure on them and were already on their way to victory by outscoring them 20-14 to come out winners 67-49 .

The principal scorers for Spartans were Brown with 22 points, three rebounds, and Forbes with 18 points, two rebounds and three block shots. For the Knights, Lawrence had 16 points and 12 rebounds, Barnes 14 points and nine rebounds and Murray with 11 points, 10 rebounds and six steals.

Meanwhile, the FLOW Super 16 National Play-offs which was due to start yesterday with Granville Jaguars vs St George’s Slayers and Hoopers vs Runnin’ Rebels in Montego Bay; as well as Pure PLayaz vs Pembroke Hall and Buff Bay Hawks vs Tivoli Wizards at the Folly Oval.

Today, Nain More-Ups will meet Spanish Town Spartans at 5:00 pm, Manchester Pythons tackle The Saints at 6:45 pm in Mandeville, Urban Knights vs Catherine Hall at 5:00 pm and Majestic Gardens vs Selassie Gardens at 6:45 pm at the National Stadium Basketball Courts.