WATERHOUSE Blazers have taken a 1-0 lead after defeating Arnett Gardens Rockers in overtime 74-70 in the final of the 2013-2014 Southern Basketball Conference (SBC) Community best-of-five finals at the Waterhouse Courts on Monday.

The second of the play-off series will be played this evening at the Tony Spaulding Sports Complex, beginning at 7:00.

It was a ding-dong tussle between both teams that saw the game being locked at 60-60 at full time before Waterhouse Blazers outscored Arnett Rockers 14-10 points to clinch the game in overtime to take the lead.

Interestingly, both Blazers and Rockers went through the preliminary rounds with unbeaten records, but lost only one game apiece in the play-offs to secure their places in the best-of-five finals.

Meanwhile, winning coach Barry Groves of the Blazers said: “The players performed really well as our point guard was absent but will be in action this evening.”

“We should expect a much tougher assignment seeing that our opponents will be playing on their home court and it won’t be hat easy to defeat them,” Groves added.

The Waterhouse Blazers have won the Southern Basketball Conference a few years ago, but were demoted after a bad season, but are hoping to return to the National Basketball League (NBL) this season, providing they come out winners of the series.

“The team lost the game by making too many mistakes and also not scoring easy opening lay-ups, but added to this, some of the calls did not go our way,” lamented losing coach of the Rockers Granville Wilson.

“We won’t be making the same mistakes twice as we did in the first game, and we have also learnt from them, but I believe the players will be going all out for a win to level the series,” he noted.

Meanwhile, in the first game at Waterhouse Courts, the home team went up nicely in the first quarter with a 20-10 point lead. However, in the second quarter, the Rockers offered a good challenge in the second quarter and won it 13-12 points, but trailed 32-23 points at the half-time break.

Rockers found their form in the third quarter by pressuring Blazers, and in the process, also outscoring them 21-14 as they dramatically closed their lead (46-44 points) at the break.

An interesting turn around ensued in the fourth and final quarter with the quick pace of the Rockers as the Blazers found their opponents pushing through their defence and gained ground on their lead. The Rockers cut into the Blazers’ 9-4 points in the last few minutes to tie the game 60-60, although the victors missed the opportunity to win at that stage.

For Blazers, Raymond Layne had a game-high 21 points, Sean McLain 14 points, Cordell Grant 12 points and Leighton McZanna with 11 points, while the principal scorers for the Rockers were Delano Mallett with a game-high 21 points, Vivian Spence 17 and Arnell Campbell with 13 points.