Fatima College and Mucurapo East Secondary will battle for the North Zone boys' Under-17 title in the T&T Secondary Schools Basketball League at the Mandela Park Basketball Court in St Clair Port-of-Spain.
On Tuesday afternoon, both teams held on to a narrow two-point lead to seal their spots in the final set for today (March 23) at 4.15 pm.
In the first semifinals, Fatima defeated Belmont Secondary School 30-28 led by their captain Jedaiah King who netted 12 points on the evening. Coach Garvin Warwick credited the victory to young shooting guard Idriis Martin, who stepped up to the task, finishing with 12 points, knocking down two key three-point shots as well as having two key steals at the end of the game to hold off the run by Belmont.
In the second semifinal, the undefeated South East Port-of-Spain (SEPOS) took on Mucurapo East Secondary and the former emerged with a 32-30 victory. The boys from Mucurapo Road were not phased as they jumped to an early lead in the first half.
In the second half, Kaseem Prince of SEPOS hit three three-point shots to give them a one-point lead with under two minutes to play. But it was Kareem Grant coming up with a key basket to give Mucurapo the lead, that they held on to at the final buzzer. Grant was the top scorer on the evening for Mucurapo with 13.
The winner of the final between Fatima and Mucurapo East will go on to represent the North Zone at the National Secondary Schools Basketball Championships next month.