MONTEGO BAY, St James — Top seed Muschett High and Cornwall College are the first teams into the Under-19 and Under-16 finals, respectively, of the ISSA Western Conference high school basketball competition after semi-final wins at the Montego Bay Cricket Club.

Muschett High just held off a hard-charging Cornwall College to win the Under-19 game 66-62, while Cornwall College cruised to a comfortable 60-43 win over St James High in the Under-16 semi-final.

They will play in the best-of-three finals set for next week against the winners of the other semi-finals that were scheduled for late yesterday.

Despite double-doubles from three players and a game-high 16 points from Rashid Davis, Cornwall College fell just short of upsetting top-ranked Muschett.

After a slow start and conceding the first five points of the game, Cornwall College asserted themselves and led 16-9 at the end of the first quarter.

Point guard Andrew Johnson quickly picked up a third foul and had to leave the court and this allowed Muschett back in the game and they took full advantage by scoring the last four points of the half to lead 30-29 at half-time.

In a close third quarter, Muschett edged ahead by two more points (50-48) and were able to stay ahead to the end.

Lamon Thompson was the top scorer for Muschett High with 17 points, Djair Bulgin scored 12 points, while Damaine Thorpe had 11 points, 10 assists and six steals.

Davis led Cornwall College with 18 points and 10 rebounds, Antonio Spence had 16 points and 16 rebounds, while Leonardo Friginette had 13 points and 10 rebounds.

In the Under-16 game, Cornwall College were in control from the start leading 14-9 after the first quarter, 29-15 at half-time and 37-27 after the third-quarter.

Alwade Thompson led all scorers with 20 points, while Nicholas Gilchrist scored 11 points and 13 rebounds as well as seven blocked shots.

Romario McFarlene scored 17 points for St James High, while Aaron Allen scored 13 points.

— Paul Reid