MONTEGO BAY, St James — Defending champions Granville Jaguars and Catherine Hall All-Stars will meet this evening at the Montego Bay Cricket Club in a repeat of the last two finals of the NBL-Western Conference after both scored wins in their opening games on Sunday.

Granville Jaguars recovered from a slow start to beat Cornwall Court Chargers 62-55, while Catherine Hall held off a hard-charging Inner-City Avalanche 63-59 at the Montego Bay Cricket Club. Both Granville Jaguars and Catherine Hall will be hoping to extend their good starts today.

The competition, which got off to a delayed start last week, will continue on Saturday and Sunday, with two games each day.

On Saturday, Inner-City Avalanche will take on Holland Saints in the first game set for 4:15pm, followed by Cricket Club Knights against Cornwall Courts Chargers, while on Sunday, Cornwall Courts Chargers returns to face Catherine Hall All-Stars in the first game with Holland Saints and Granville Jaguars meeting in the second.

Today’s game will see two teams eager to stake their claims as favourites to win the competition.

On Sunday, Jaguars trailed by three points 23-27 at half time, outscored the newcomers 39-28 over the final two quarters to run away with a seven-point victory, thanks to a game high 18 points from Dave Black.

Two players had double-doubles for Jaguars, Tafari Vassell scored 13 points and had 11 rebounds and Leroy Lawrence, who missed the first quarter, scored 12 points and 10 rebounds to support Black.

Richard Drummond also had a double-double for Chargers with 14 points and 11 rebounds, while Giovanni Bailey scored 11 points.

A fourth-quarter charge by Inner-city Avalanche helped to close the gap on Catherine Hall All-Stars as the former champions led 20-15 after the first quarter, 35-28 at half-time, and 46-37 at the end of the third quarter.

Kurt Dorman led Catherine Hall with 17 points and nine rebounds, while Michael Schloss and Jvon Calderon both scored 10 points.

Shaquille Wynn scored 10 points and had 10 rebounds for Avalanche as Davaughn Campbell led with 13 points, Olan Lamey scored 11 points, and Rayon Higgins also scored 10 points.

— Paul Reid