MONTEGO BAY, St James — Cornwall Courts Chargers could put themselves into contention for a semi-final spot in the NBL-Western Conference today when they take on winless Inner-city Avalanche in their second round game at the Montego Bay Cricket Club set to start at 6:15 pm.

Three teams including Catherine Hall All-Stars and Holland Saints are also in the running for the two remaining spots after defending champions Granville Jaguars and Montego Bay Cricket Club Knights secured their spots on the weekend.

Granville Jaguars avenged their first round loss to Knights on Sunday and both teams are tied on 15 points, Granville from eight games and Knights from nine. Holland Saints and Catherine Hall are both on 12 points from eight games each; Cornwall Courts Chargers are on 10 points from eight games and Inner-city Avalanche on seven from seven.

Cornwall Courts Chargers had won their first round game 65-42 and should start favourites to win today.

On Sunday, Granville jumped out to a big lead but had to dig deep to hold off Cricket Club Knights to win 75-70, outscored 35-26 over the last two quarters, while Holland Saints also made up for their first round loss to Catherine Hall, winning 65-57.

Jaguars led by 14 points at half-time (49-35) over Cricket Club Knights but started plugging away in the third quarter to cut the deficit by five to nine points (55-64) and came as close as one point (70-71) with just over a minute to go.

Dave Black of Granville Jaguars led all scorers with 29 points, six rebounds and five steals, Levar Rose scored 14 points, while Tafari Vassell, who had two crucial defensive rebounds late in the game, had eight points and 10 rebounds.

Antonio Spence had a double-double for Knights with 23 points and 13 rebounds, Odane Whittaker scored 12 points and had eight rebounds, while Jhaun Bryan scored 10 points.

After beating Avalanche on Saturday, Catherine Hall had just five players at the start of the game and only two more showed up and despite leading after the first quarter, could not keep up with Holland Saints.

Saints trailed by two points (11-13) at the end of the first quarter, but took over by one point (30-29) at half-time, extending their advantage to eight points (46-38) at the end of the third quarter.

Player/coach Ricardo Brooks had a game-high 18 points, nine rebounds, six assists and four steals, Errol Steele had 14 points and Michael Johnson had 13 points and 11 rebounds for the winners.

Dwayne Johns had 15 points for Catherine Hall, while Goyan Malcolm and Damaine Thorpe both had 11 points each.