THE next chapter of the ongoing rivalry between the Commonwealth Bank Giants and Caribbean Moonshine Rockets came to a head in game one of the 2025 New Providence Basketball Association (NPBA) Division One Finals on Saturday night at the AF Adderley Gymnasium.

The well-known rivals continued their feud but the Commonwealth Bank Giants landed the first blow with a 93-80 triumph over the Rockets in game one of the best-of-five championship series.

The Caribbean Moonshine Rockets, formerly known as the Discount Distributors Rockets, took home last year’s championship hardware with a narrow 3-2 series win over their competitors in the 2024 NPBA DI Finals.

One season later, the CB Giants were determined to deliver a message from the onset, according to head coach Perry Thompson.

“The idea was to come out and send an early message. I feel like the team came out not lackadaisical like we usually do in the first quarter. We actually made a good collective effort over the entire game so it is a good feeling that we finally played a complete game and saw what we could do against the defending champions,” he said.

Both the Giants and Rockets struggled to put together a cohesive offence in the opening quarter. 

The back-and-forth affair in the first ended with the Giants on top 22-19.

Last year’s runners-up started to create some separation as Brandon Strachan, who is playing in his first season at the division one level, nailed a nifty floater to put the Giants ahead by 6 (28-22) early in the second period.

The defending champions continued to hang around on the scoreboard. The team got back-to-back buckets from Devon Ferguson.

The latter drained an open three from the top of the key to close in on the Giants 36-33 with less than three minutes remaining in the first half.

The Rockets managed to close the gap to just 1 (41-40) thanks to their late surge to end the first half of basketball.

The third period is where the Giants really asserted their dominance against the reigning champions.

Dastyn Baker came off the bench with the hot hand and erupted for 14 points, which included four three-pointers, in the third quarter.

He finished the game with 17 points and put a wedge between the Giants and Rockets in the third period.

Coach Thompson commended the efforts of his bench unit after game one.

“It started when the playoffs began…Every game somebody stepped up and it was Baker’s turn tonight. He came in and hit a lot of big shots. He has been one of my efficient players over the years. He doesn’t need 40 minutes to make an impact, he is a coach so he knows exactly what to do when he gets on the floor,” he said.

Baker helped the Giants to mount an unanswered 8-0 run with two threes on back-to-back possessions complemented by a pull-up jumper from veteran guard Jackson Jacob.

The score was 53-46 after this stretch until the Giants built a double-digit deficit (61-50) at the three minute mark.

Through three quarters, they remained in control of the game 71-56.

The Giants took their feet off the gas pedal a bit in the final period of play and the Rockets tried to capitalise. 

After trailing by double digits for a good chunk of the third period, the Rockets got within 7 (84-77) with less than three minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.

However, two quick Buckets by Eugene Bain and Jacob quelled any chances of a Rockets comeback.

Jacob pitched in 16 points and veteran big man Bain scored 15 points in the Giants victory. 

Abel Joseph scored a team-high 19 points for the Rockets in the loss. 

Coach Thompson said the goal is to keep the same momentum going into game two of the championship series.

“In game two we want to ride out this momentum. Tomorrow [today] we will get some rest and do some recovery and in game two we will come out with the same intensity. We won’t let up,” he said.

The 2025 NPBA DI Championship series will resume tonight at 8:15pm in the AF Adderley Gymnasium.