DEFENDING champions Grace Food Processors (Canning) and Accent Marketing Limited have both taken 1-0 leads in their best-of-five 2014 Business House Basketball Association (BHBA) 3-on-3 Division One and Two League series finals, respectively, at the Stadium Basketball Courts on Wednesday night.

Grace managed to come out with a narrow 33-31 win over Sagicor Life Jamaica in the Division One League finals, while Accent came through to beat XEROX Limited 29-26 in overtime in the Division Two League finals.

Winning player/coach of Grace Canning, Tyrone Fairweather, said it was a really tough game. “Sagicor really played well as they were out-balling our players by handling the ball well.

“I had to take a time-out to settle things down. After that short break the players stepped up and began playing their own game, but we had to fight all the way as our opponents were playing well and the match was so close,” Fairweather said.

Losing coach Michael Kirlew said his team could have won the match when the scores read 32-31 in favour of Grace in the last 60 seconds of the encounter. “We got two scoring opportunities and missed both, one attempting a three-pointer, and the other from the free throw line.

“It’s only Game One of the five-match play-off championship finals and we are looking to level the series in Game Two scheduled for next Monday at the same venue,” Kirklew said.

Meanwhile, Sheldon Reid, coach of Accent Marketing, said it was a nice win for his team.

“I told the players to step up their shooting in overtime if we are to come out winners, and they really pulled it off. However, we need some adjustments and we should produce a much better showing in the next game.”

Game Two will be played next Monday with XEROX vs Accent at 6:00 pm in Division Two League, while Grace Canning go up against Sagicor Life Jamaica at 7:30 pm.