Storm, Horizon to lock horns in today’s Elite League final
Published:Sunday | January 29, 2023 | 2:11 AMOrane Buchanan - Staff Reporter
DEFENDING CHAMPIONS Elite Horizon and Elite Storm will face off in the final of Elite 1 Caribbean Basketball League competition which takes place today at the National Arena beginning at 8 p.m.
The teams were making the final after contrasting wins on Friday night where Elite Horizon dominated Elite Rivers to come away 112-87 winners, while Elite Storm found the going tough against major rivals Elite Waves in a 115-113 affair.
Horizon benefited from a solid team performance against a hapless Rivers unit
The defending champions had 11 of the 12 players on the scoreboard by the end, with in-form point guard Bobby Gray, leading the way with 23 points and three assists. Gray had one turnover.
Horizon’s head coach, Cleon Morgan, said his team’s intention heading into the semifinal was to attack.
“It was a pretty good game, we’ve played them (Elite Rivers) about four times so we weren’t surprised that we would have pulled out another victory and I’m proud of the team. The objective was to get a high-scoring margin and from that then we could get in some of the other players from the bench, so they could get going because in the finals we want everybody to be ready,” said Morgan.
In the evening’s second semifinal, the Storm had to wait until overtime for their one-basket victory, staying the course against an explosive 58-point performance from the Waves’ Cameron Buchanan.
MOUTH-WATERING CLASH
The Storm countered that one-man onslaught with Brandon Armstrong’s 31 points, 25 from Jayrn Johnson, and 24 from Da’Rell Domineck, to set up what is expected to be a mouth-watering clash with Horizon.
Storm head coach, Oneil Brown, said that having lost on two occasions to the Elite Waves, he simply told his group a third loss would have meant his opponents were better than them.
It worked.
“I must commend my team. They played their hearts out and trusted the process. We played this team twice since season and I told my guys going into this match if one team beats you three times, that means they’re better than you. This lifted the guys’ morale and I can’t wait for Sunday to come. I believe in my philosophy and I’ve passed it on to my team. They just have to believe and trust each other,” said Brown.
The final will be preceded by a third-place play-off between Waves and Rivers at 6:00 p.m.