WESTERN BUREAU:

THE BATTLE for supremacy in the KFC Western Schoolboy Basketball League will enter its final phase this afternoon with a doubleheader at the Montego Bay Cricket Club Courts with game one in both the best-of-three Under-16 and Under-19 finals.

Cornwall College and Spot Valley High, who advanced to the Under-16 final with semi-final wins over Irwin High and Muschett, respectively, will clash in the 2 p.m. curtain-raiser, while Cornwall College and Manning's, who reached the Under-19 final with wins over Herbert Morrison and Muschett, will meet at 4 p.m.

"We are expecting two very good games," said Septon Lawrence, the competition's coordinator. "I would be very surprised if both finals did not go down to a game three." In the Under-16 semi-finals, played on Tuesday afternoon at the same venue, Cornwall defeated Irwin High 63-54 while Spot Valley clipped Muschett 37-36.

Exciting action

In the 'senior' semi-finals, Manning's edged Muschett 72-71 while Cornwall blunted Herbert Morrison's challenge 76-68.

With the top-three teams from the two sections of the western league slated to participate in the upcoming all-island play-off series, which will feature the top-three teams from the other regions, the beaten semi-finalists from Tuesday's game will meet on Monday to decide the third-place finisher.

According to Lawrence, Monday's fixture, which will also feature game two match-ups for the Under-16 and Under-19 finals, will see a total of four games. In the first game, Irwin and Muschett will square-off for third in the Under-16s and then Muschett and Herbert Morrison will clash for the Under-19 third-place slot.

"It should be an afternoon of exciting basketball as all four games are very important," said Lawrence. "I am expected exciting action from start to finish."