St. John’s Antigua- The eight teams to qualify for this year’s Cool & Smooth, Stag, Inet Antigua & Barbuda Basketball Association’s (ABBA) First Division playoffs competition have been decided.
Yorks Crushers, which won the round-robin league title, have clinched the top seed spot in the playoffs over defending champions Big Banana Express after both teams along with Roots ended their regular season campaigns with identical 9-2 records.
Crushers took the playoffs top seed position by virtue of beating Express when both sides met in the league competition.
Express snatched the second seed rankings over Roots by virtue of winning their head-to-head meeting in the league.
Baldwin Braves claimed the fourth seed position with a 7-4 record in the league.
The other four teams to qualify for the playoffs achieved the feat by finishing with identical 6-5 records in the league. Their seedings in the playoffs were also determined by their head-to-meetings.
Hankook Flyers took the fifth seed spot in the playoffs followed by JSC Outlaws, Baba’s Trucking JSC Hawks and Newfield Tapers.
The best of three first round series of the division one playoffs will commence next Thursday and Friday at the JSC Sports Complex.
On Thursday, second seed Express will meet seventh seed JSC Hawks at 6:45 pm, while third seeded Roots will face sixth seeded JSC Outlaws at 8:15 pm.
On Friday, number four seed Braves will clash with fifth seed Hankook Flyers at 6:45 pm, while top seed Yorks Crushers will oppose eight seed Newfield Tapers at 8:15 pm.
Meanwhile Kenneth A Gomez United, Ottos Officials, Police Spartans and Spanish Heat all recorded wins in ABBA’s second division league on Thursday night.
United prevailed 55-43 over Romgut G Block in the first game of a double-header at Ottos, while hosts Ottos Officials beat Braves II 70-60 in the other encounter.
Spartans trounced Nightballers 99-64 in opening game of another double-header at JSC Sports Complex. Spanish Heat recorded an 83-71 victory over Maginley’s Bluejays in the second encounter.
