Jacob led Giants with 26 points
- Simba French
- Nov 13, 2023
- 0
The defending champions in the New Providence Basketball Association (NPBA) Division I, the Commonwealth Bank Giants, showed no rust on Saturday night as they blew past last season’s runners-up the Discount Distributors Rockets 104-89, on opening night at the Kendal G.L. Isaacs National Gymnasium .
Leading the way for the Giants was their longest tenured player, Jackson Jacob, with a game-high 24 points, after pouring in 17 points in the first half. He had an efficient night from the field, where he went 9-for-18 to shoot 50 percent. The guard also missed one of his eight attempts from the charity stripe. Head coach for the Giants, Perry Thompson, spoke about Jacob’s play on opening night
Michael Bain did not score in double figures for the Giants, but he acted as a facilitator with 10 assists and 12 rebounds. Dylan Musgrove had 24 points in 37 minutes.
Leading the way for the Rockets was Livingston Munnings, who finished with 22 points. Newcomer Kemsey Sylvestre scored 16 points before fouling out.
The Giants had the hot hand shooting 48.7 percent from the field while Rockets shot 40 percent. The Giants’ largest lead was 22 points, as they scored 27 fast break points and had 16 steals. Thompson said that his players played a strong first half and strong fourth quarter to start the season off in the win column.
“It had to be a statement game. There was a lot of talk before the game and interviews going on, so we had to come back and remind them who we were. We always have a target on our backs whether we win or not. The name alone brings a lot of pressure, and we try to keep the program up and bring the experience. We worked hard and it showed on the court,” Thompson said.
After the Rockets opened the game on a 2-0 lead, which was their only lead of the game, the Giants went on a 10-1 run to go up 10-3 with 7:12 left in the first quarter. That lead quickly went into their first double-digit lead on the night at 21-12 with 2:18 left in the game.
The first quarter ended with the Giants up 26-16.
The 5:54 mark saw the Giants holding their largest lead of the game on Eugene Bain’s jumpshot when they led 41-19. The Giants led 56-39 at the end of the first half as they held the momentum.
The Rockets won the third quarter 21-16, but did not put a dent in the Giants’ lead, as the Giants were up 72-60. A 32-29 advantage in the fourth gave them the win.
There were two games in the NPBA yesterday. The first one was a Division II matchup between the Cyber Tech Blue Marlins and the Bahamas Institute of Business and Technology (BIBT) Great Whites. The Blue Marlins win 79-74 over the Great Whites on a 22-13 first quarter advantage. They were led by reserve Cedron Cummings, who scored 16 points. Alexio Frances scored a team-high 14 points in the loss.
The second matchup pit the University of The Bahamas Mingos against the Zulu Media Great Whites. No scores for that game were available at press time.