Selassie Gardens qualify for NBL

Robert Bailey, Gleaner Writer

Selassie Gardens booked their spot in next season's National Basketball League (NBL) following a 71-56 victory over the Jaguars in the all-island play-offs at the Montego Bay Cricket Club on Sunday.

The South St Andrew-based team, which finished the play-offs unbeaten with four wins, was led to victory by Arthur Thompson who sank 18 points and Duran Dean with 14 points.

Leading scorers

Leroy Lawrence (18) and Huwayne Blake with (12) points were the leading scorers for the Montego Bay-based Jaguars.

Rohan Feanny, coach of Selassie Gardens, said he was always confident that his team would have gained promotion to the NBL.

"This game wasn't a difficult one for us and I'm surprised that it was so easy," said Feanny.

"We know that once we got into the play-offs, it was always going to be easy for us to get in the NBL because I felt that the town-based teams are much stronger than the country teams," said Feanny.

He added that despite his team's promotion to the big league, they are still in need of a backup point guard, a small forward and a versatile all-round player, who can fit in at least two positions.

Good abilities

"We are currently recruiting players for next season because we are in need of experienced players with good basketball abilities and we don't want to be a one-season team in this league," said Feanny.

"We are a notch below most of the NBL teams, but I know that once we can improve on our game, then we are going to be competitive," Feanny noted.

Jaguars, Avalanche and Braves Chief are the other teams that are currently battling for the last remaining promotion spot.