By TENAJH SWEETING

Tribune Sports Reporter

tsweeting@tribunemedia.net

THE Commonwealth Bank Giants, the reigning division one champions, along with the Cyber Tech Blue Marlins reeled in emphatic victories against the Sunlight Cottage Stampers and Mekaddish Millionaires in Wednesday’s action for the New Providence Basketball Association (NPBA).

The defending champions dealt the Stampers a 48-point loss while the Blue Marlins routed the Millionaires by a jaw-dropping 67 points in their division two matchup. The Blue Marlins have been on a tear in the NPBA and they now sport a 5-0 (win/loss record) and comfortably lead the Derrick “Bats” Ferguson division two standings after defeating their competitors 114-47.

The top division two squad evenly distributed the scoring load with six players notching double digits and two players putting up a double-double on the stat sheet.

Daniel Bethel got to work and scored a game-high 19 points and crashed the boards 12 times, while dishing out five assists and picking off the ball on three occasions. Jason McHardy pitched in as well with his 12 points and 12 rebounds performance on Wednesday night.

The game was never in question for the Blue Marlins as they simply outplayed the Millionaires. The team ran out to a 24-7 lead to cap off the first quarter and proceeded to run up to the score 61-19, putting an exclamation point on the win before the second half of the contest.

Elkin Sherman, assistant coach of the Blue Marlins, said the team is on a mission to hoist the hardware at the end of the 2023-24 NPBA season.

“Earlier in the week we practiced very hard. That is a new team we played but we take no one for granted. We just want to continue to prepare ourselves for our goal this year which is winning a championship,” Sherman said.

The road to the championship will no doubt have the Your Essential Store (YES) Giants, the division two defending champions, on its path. The YES Giants are also undefeated, owning an identical 5-0 record to lead the Michael Boshang Cooper standings.

The league’s top division two teams will collide in the featured match of Saturday’s triple header and coach Sherman said the Blue Marlins will be ready.

“It will be a good matchup on Saturday. The key factor to that game is keeping within striking distance and we will be able to come out with the victory. The team has been together for quite some time, same with the YES Giants, right now these two teams have similar players and veteran leadership so it will be a good head-to-head matchup,” the assistant coach stated.

The victors collectively shot 52-for-97 good for a 54% shooting clip while holding the Millionaires to a dismal 18-for-100 for 18% on field goals. The Blue Marlins will look to carry their fluid offence and stingy defence into the featured matchup against the defending champions on Saturday.

The CB Giants showed why they are the reigning champions against the Stampers on Wednesday night.

The team pummeled their opponent 110-62 with Dylan Musgrove dishing out most of the punishment on the offensive end.

He was one of five Giants players to score in double digits and led the way with 33 points. He shot the ball with precision, knocking down 12-for-21 field goals on 57% shooting.

Additionally, Musgrove was relentless on the glass, reeling in 12 boards. Randy

Miller and Renardo Baillou also filled the stat sheet with double-doubles. Miller came away with 11 points and 11 rebounds while Baillou poured in 11 points and cleaned up a game-high 17 rebounds.

The Stampers held their own in the first quarter, leading 22-17 to go into the second period of the game.

However, then came the Giants who quickly made up ground and gained a 15-point advantage at the 2:47 mark following a pair of free throws made by Musgrove. They eventually closed out the second half on top 50-34 and stomped out any chance of the Stampers regaining the lead.

The CB Giants will hope to carry this momentum into Saturday’s triple header where they will meet the 5-0 Sand Dollar High Flyers, who they ousted in last year’s playoffs.

The High Flyers also defeated the Stampers in dominating fashion on Sunday and are rolling ahead of Saturday’s showdown.

Saturday’s triple header begins at 7:30pm at the Kendal GL Isaacs Gymnasium.