Knights clip Eagles in NBL mid-season final
Published:Tuesday | September 5, 2023 | 12:09 AMOrane Buchanan/Staff Reporter
The Oniel Brown-coached Urban Knights are the 2023 National Basketball League (NBL) mid-season champions.
On Sunday night at the National Stadium court, Urban Knights took top honours following a close 69-66 victory over Upper Room Eagles. The Knights were led by Romone Spence with a game-high 19 points and nine rebounds. He got much-needed help from Nicholai Brown and Keneil Allen, who scored 11 points apiece.
In a game which saw the advantage swinging from one team to the next, Knights won the first quarter 14-13 and followed that up with an explosive second quarter, which also saw them outscoring their opponents 24-14. The Eagles, however, took the third quarter 23-20 and the final quarter 16-11. Brown, head coach of Urban Knights, said a number of missed free throws in the final three minutes of the game could have cost his team dearly.
“I’m very pleased as we showed character and determination. The game could have gone either way as we missed seven of nine free throws in the last three minutes of play, so we really appreciate how the game eventually turned out,” Brown said.
Coach Brown said he hopes to get back the full complement of the squad in short order to cope with the other teams going into the second half of the regular season and possibly the playoffs.
“All season long I haven’t had the full-strength team, and I can’t wait. Omar Barnes, one of our most experienced players, didn’t play in the mid-season final, and the two games that we lost so far, we were short-staffed. This is the closest we’ve been to our best, but that’s basketball ,as it also gives other players opportunities to step up and we’re looking to the rest of the season,” he shared.
Simon Brown, head coach of the Upper Room Eagles, said that costly turnovers in the game were the ultimate reasons behind the defeat.
“I think it was a slug fest, and it was a very good encounter by what I consider to be two very good teams. Urban Knights came out shooting very well from three-point range, but we were doing very well from the post. The fact that we were so close means that we were in the game but we had some costly turnovers, which I think is the main reason why we lost,” he said.
Simon Brown added that despite the narrow defeat, the Upper Room Eagles are still focused on the ultimate prize, which is the championship.
“We just have to dust this off because at the end of the day, the mid-season final was never the real goal. The goal is the NBL title, and we will see the Urban Knights in the final,” the Upper Room Eagles coach said.