ST JAMES, Jamaica- Former national champions Herbert Morrison Technical and St James High will meet in Monday’s deciding Game three of their ISSA Rural Boys Under- 19 basketball best of three semi-finals series at the Montego Bay Cricket Club, starting at 3:30pm.

Herbert Morrison tied the series on Friday with a nail-biting three points (56-53) win over St James High in Game two played at Herbert Morrison Technical after St James High had won Game One 56-47-56 on Wednesday.

St James High rallied in the second half on Friday to outscore Herbert Morrison 35-27 but came up just short after top scorer Reiki Brown mistakenly thought his team was ahead and opted to dribble out the last 10 seconds instead of attempting a three-point shot that would have tied up the scores and possibly forced overtime.

In another Under -19 semi-final game played on Friday, Manchester High took a one game lead over Glenmuir High after winning 59-47 and will hope to wrap up the series on Monday after the first game was not played.

In the Under-16 semi-finals, Manchester High and Belair High have booked spots in the final after completing a two-game win over Knox College and Holmwood Technical, respectively.

Manchester High beat Knox College 61-22 and 68-39 and Belair High beat Holmwood Technical 52-38 and 56-55 and will start their best of three finals on Thursday.

At Herbert Morrison on Friday, the home team jumped out to a big early lead and were ahead 18-11 after the first quarter (29-19) at half time and were ahead 32-19 in the third quarter before St James High started their comeback.

Led by 16 points from Brown, 15 points and 16 rebounds from Keith Smith and 10 points and 12 rebounds from Jodel Williams, St James High whittled down the lead and came within a basket of at least forcing extra time.

Tevaughni Bernard scored a game high 18 points for Herbert Morrison Technical, Joshua Ferguson scored 16 points, Daniel Clarke and D’Aire Patterson both scored nine points, while Damani Williams had 15 rebounds.

-Paul Reid