Anthony Minott, Gleaner Writer

Urban Knights players and management celebrate another lien on the mid-season trophy, after the KFC-sponsored National Basketball League (NBL) mid-season final at the National Stadium courts on Saturday night. The Knights beat Port Royal Bulls 63-59. - Anthony Minott/Freelance Photographer

Defending champions Urban Knights remained kings of the National Basketball League (NBL) Saturday night at the National Stadium courts, following a close 63-59 victory over newcomers Port Royal Bulls, in the KFC-sponsored mid-season final.

Coach of Urban Knights, Calvin Martin, was happy for the win but disappointed with his team's standard of play.

"Urban Knights are not as good as the players think they are," he said. "We made some silly errors in the first half and the Bulls capitalised and had a clear lead. Port Royal (Bulls) broke down in the second half and that put us back into the game, but we aren't really where we want to be at this time," Martin surmised.

Late flourish

The Knights were outplayed in the first two quarters by the Bulls, which had a fast start and led 19-13 in the first quarter; they also built a 12-point lead (33-21) during the early stages of the second quarter, before a late flourish from the Knights cut it to a six-point deficit (36-30) at the half.

Knights rallied in the second half and led by one (49-48) going into the fourth quarter. They went on a 7-2 run to start the fourth and led 56-50 at that point, but the Bulls' Paul Brown cut the lead to two (56-54) with four straight points, two free throws and a lay-up, with just over four minutes to go. Kenardo Young scored a bucket to make it 58-54 in favour of the Knights with 3:07 left.

Head in the game

Meeks then sunk three free throws in a row to make it a one-point game (58-57). Knights' Young then hit a clutch three-pointer with under two minutes remaining in the contest, that pushed the lead to four (63-59), which proved to be the final score.

Omar Barnes and Andrew Whilby had 12 points apiece, while Andy Smith got 11 and Fernando Young added 12 for The Knights. Meeks had a game-high 17 points for the Bulls, while Damion Young (12), and Davion Wade (10) made it into double figures.

Meeks was disappointed with the loss.

"It was an embarrassing loss for the players after we started off so well. We didn't play good defence, we didn't 'box out' or rebound the ball well and we strayed from the game plan which was to go inside the key. We kept shooting unnecessary outside shots and it cost us the game," Meeks lamented.