Trinidad and Tobago 3x3 basketball star Ahkeel "Smally" Boyd showed his shooting prowess on the weekend when he scored a game-high 39 points to lead his Maloney Pacers team to a big 100-73 win over New Chapter Global Sport Academy in the Destiny Invitational Arima League (DIAL).
Playing at the Princess Royal Basketball Court, Arima on March 3, Pacers notched their fifth straight win in the premiership division to head into this weekend's semifinal with a perfect 5-0 record.
Pacers held a commanding 54-30 lead at the halfway stage, and they came out in a similar mood in the second half as they drained 27 points in the third quarter en route to the 27-point blowout win.
"Smally," a member of TT's 3x3 basketball team which copped a bronze medal at last year's Pan American Games, put on a show as he had his fingerprints all over the game to finish with a stat line of 39 points, seven assists and three steals. Sadiki Guerra scored 27 points to lead New Chapter.
In Sunday's other premier division clash, Black Mamba (2-3) came out with a 60-53 victory against Morvant Oilbirds in a low-scoring affair to seal their own spot in the semifinals.
Black Mamba trailed the Oilbirds by a 17-11 margin at the end of the first quarter, but they fought back to grab a 26-23 lead by halftime. Black Mamba opened up an eight-point lead (44-36) by the end of the third quarter and they held on for the seven-point win to grab fourth spot upon the conclusion of the preliminary phase.
Black Mamba's reward for grabbing the last semifinal spot will be a matchup with the unbeaten Pacers. New Chapter and Caracas City, both of whom finished the preliminaries with identical 3-2 records, will meet in the premier division's other semis.
The semis will be contested via a best-of-three format, with game one of either series tipping off on March 10.
There is still one round of action left in the championship division, where Spartans TT head the table with a perfect 6-0 record from their allotted six games. Maloney Pacers (4-1) and Matthew Pierre Basketball Academy (3-2) are in second and third spots respectively, with New Chapter (2-3) currently occupying the fourth spot.
In the championship division on March 2, Maloney Pacers' Tyrese Fields had a dominant showing when he tallied 20 points and pulled down 20 boards in an 84-69 victory over New Chapter.
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