Burger King Clapham Bulls showed patience and poise as they completely outclassed the C.A.M Smart Assurance City United Celtics 69-49 to even the Co-operators General Insurance BABA Premier League finals series 1-1 on Tuesday night at the Wildey Gymnasium.
Led by veteran and former national player Akeem Marsh who scored 20 points along and grabbed nine rebounds, Clapham showed why they are repeat finalists as they systematically pulled the Celtics’ defense apart in the first half to level the best of five series.
Using Marsh as their focus and inserting forward Manuel Alleng into the game early, the Bulls completely dominated the paint.
On the other hand, Celtics had an abysmal night from behind the arc, shooting a horrendous 10 per cent (3/30) from long range and without coach Charles Vanderpool unable to make the game, adjustments were non-existent.
To make matters worse, Celtics also turned the ball over 23 times.
With Marsh dominating down low, Bulls took complete control of the contest and by halftime they held a comfortable 39-17 lead.
In the opening minutes of the third quarter, Celtics began positively, scoring six quick points courtesy their star players Theo Greenidge and Joel Hunte.
Their efforts spearheaded a 14-7 Celtics run that helped to reduce the deficit to 15, (46-31).
However, Hunte, who topscored in Sunday’s win, looked slow and fatigued.
Without their talisman firing on all cylinders, Celtics struggled to get going offensively.
Meanwhile, Marsh continued to be a threat in the paint for the Bulls and Rahiim Gibbons caught fire from outside.
On the other end, Andrew Ifill kept the Celtics guards in check with superb defense.
The combination of good defense and patient offense helped Bulls to restore their 20-point lead heading into the fourth quarter (56-36).
Marsh took control of the game in the final period, but with Celtics unable to make any inroads into the deficit, he was eventually substituted.
By the final whistle, Marsh had good support from Gibbons who finished with 19 points, five rebounds, four assists and four steals.
For City, Hunte had the only double double of the game with 18 points and 10 rebounds and Greenidge put up 15 points.
Game 3 is slated for Thursday at 8 pm at the Wildey Gym, but Vanderpool is expected to be unavailable until Game 4.
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