Falcons ruin Stars perfect season(By SHELDON LONGLEY NG Sports Reporter)Needing just one win to complete a perfect season, the Bahamas Academy Stars senior boys folded under pressure last night and watched their worst nightmare come true at the Kendal G.L. Isaacs National Gymnasium.

Not to take away an impressive victory by the Prince William Falcons who exemplified the phrase 'Falcon pride' last night, the Stars played their worst defensive game of the season and totally fell apart at the end of the third quarter and throughout the fourth.

After blowing a big lead in game one, the Falcons came out and played for all four quarters yesterday turning up the heat for a resounding 80-61 win to even the Bahamas Association of Independent Secondary Schools Championship at a game apiece. The decisive game three will be played tonight at the Kendal Isaacs Gym.

"We are never over-confident. We don't underestimate any team because we know that Prince Will is a very talented team and they are well-coached. They wanted it more and they played better than we did tonight," said Stars head coach Winston Symonette.

"Our quest is to win the championship this season. We have one game to do it and we are going to do our best. That is our focus tomorrow. We are going to come out and play fundamental basketball for all four quarters," he added.

For the second game in a row, the Falcons built a double-digit lead in the first half but started to have flashbacks at game one when the Stars came all the back and pulled within one, 38-37, late in the third.

However, the Falcons re-found their composure and played as good of a ten-minute span that they have played all season long covering the end of the third period and all of the fourth.

"It is very important to put a game plan in place and to go out there and execute for the whole game and not just three quarters," said Falcons head coach Dexter Cambridge.

"We did that tonight. We played for four quarters and we came out victorious. They made a run but we made a run also."

The only thing the Stars cheering squad had to cheer about this time was their senior girls who evened up their championship series and a solid junkanoo contingent from the Valley Boys junkanoo group.

Both teams like to get out on the break and score transition points and whereas it was the Stars who got those points in the fourth quarter in game one, it was the Falcons who turned the tables on them this time.

"Prince Will is a quick team. They don't have a half-court game that is a major threat. Most of their points come on the fast break and we just have to be a step quicker tomorrow," Symonette said.

After the Stars pulled within one late in the third quarter, the Falcons picked up their defensive intensity forcing turnovers which they converted into fastbreak opportunities. By the end of the third period, the Falcons had extended their lead back to double digits, 58-48.

"Mental errors caused us. Any time you have to make substitutions (those things happen)," Symonette continued. "We have number of our junior players on this team and those people will make mistakes in a game like this.

"For some of them this is their first championship and they will make mistakes. We had to live with that because our big people were in foul trouble and we had to go with guys on the bench," he added.

The Stars defence couldn't stop the Falcons at all in the fourth period as they started scoring points in the paint to compliment their transition game.

Instead of going ice-cold late in the game like they did in game one, the Falcons big three saved their best for last this time. Falcons captain Delano Coakley and talented forward James Dean both scored 10 of their 19 points in the second half.

"We are going into game three now and we are planning on doing the same thing and take the title. We came back and we knew we could beat this team," said Coakley.

Only Delano and James scored in double figures in game one but their supporting cast stepped up this time. Terrel Williams dropped in 10 of his 16 points in the second half and Giovanni Dean added 10 points for the Falcons.

Portland 'Mitch' Bain and Terrance Brown led the Stars as they shared game high honours with 21 points apiece. However, no other Stars player was even close to scoring in double figures. Even Bain's 21 points was a sub par performance for him as he is used to scoring close to 30 if not higher.

"At one point in the third quarter he (Bain) didn't touch the ball for three minutes in the third quarter. Any time that your best player is not touching the basketball it is going to be a long night," Symonette said.

The Stars fell behind by 12 points after the first period, 22-10, cut the deficit to six, 35-29, at the half and got as close as one point before the Falcons stretched the lead back to double digits at the end of three. The Stars never led in the game.

Now that their perfect season is over, Stars coach Symonette said that they can concentrate on winning the championship while Falcons coach Cambridge feels that the series should be over by now and that they have to play their type of game in game three in order to win.

"If we go in there and play our game we shouldn't have a problem. I'm confident that we could beat this team. This thing is supposed to be over by now," said Cambridge.

"If we go out there lapsed tomorrow thinking that it is going to be an easy game we could come to the gym and get blown out. We just have to go out there and continue to play our game and we should have no problem winning," he added.

Caption

Staff Photos by Donald Knowles

WHICH WAY? - David McPhee of Prince William is closely defended by Bahamas Academy's Mitch Bain, right and another Stars player during Game 2 of their BAISS Sr. Boys championship series.

OH GOSH! - David McPhee of Prince William is all tied up during Game 2 of their BAISS Sr. Boys championship series Tuesday. Needing just one win to complete a perfect season, the Bahamas Academy Stars senior boys folded under pressure last night and watched their worst nightmare come true, their first loss of the season, a 80-61 thrashing.