MSA were actually represented in three of the four finals, but lost to Saltus in the Junior girls final 20-18 while Berkeley stopped Warwick Academy 32-22 in the Junior boys final.

All the competing teams showed outstanding talent both defensively and offensively and many of the games leading up to the finals were won at the free-throw line when, in some cases, only a basket separated the winners from the losers.

In the Junior girls semifinals, MSA faced Warwick Academy in double elimination action, the only team to have defeated them. They got revenge with a 34-11 victory and went into the finals with determination to beat the strong Saltus team. High scorer in the semifinal was Melanie Garrett of MSA with 14 points.

In the Junior boys semifinal a very strong Berkeley team overcame the skill of a motivated Saltus team 27-15 with Byon Robinson of Berkeley scoring eight points and Jason Farrington of Saltus 10 points.

In the Senior boys semifinal Warwick Academy had an outstanding game against MSA and held the lead with only minutes to go before being beaten 65-64. In the third quarter, Warwick Academy led MSA 51-44, yet MSA caught up in the last quarter and got within a basket.

MSA stole the ball and made an easy layup to take the lead with less than a minute to go. High scorers were Warwick Academy's David Thomas with 20 points and MSA's Michael Duart with 24 points.

In Senior girls action, Chaffee and Warwick Academy were point to point throughout the first half. Then Chaffee dominated the second half to win the game thanks to high scorers Lisa Brown from Chaffee, with 18 points, and S.Smith from Warwick Academy with 17.

In the Junior girls final, MSA battled hard against Saltus and were tied in the last minute of the final quarter. Saltus took the game 20-18 with help from high scorer Emily Black, who accounted for half of their points. Top scorer for MSA was Nadia Aguiar with six points.

Berkeley's Junior boys took a commanding lead against Warwick Academy in the first half of the final as they led 18-8. In the second half Warwick Academy matched Berkeley basket for basket but were unable to catch up in the end.

High scorers were Berkeley were John Barry Nusum with 12 points and Byon Robinson with 11 points while Warwick were led by eight points from A.Smith.

Chaffee's Senior girls dominated the first half of their final against MSA as they led 16-11 at the half.

MSA came alive in the third quarter to take the lead and held strong to win 35-31 with Derika Wainwright leading the winners with 10 points. Vanessa Jacks of Chaffee had 11 points.

The final game of the tournament pitched the strong MSA senior boys against an equally strong Saltus team. MSA led by a basket at the half and held on to win 59-44 as the second half heated up.

Leading scorer was Saltus' Andre Bean with 14 points and David Smilin with 13 while MSA's high scorers were Alex DeCouto with 12 points and Ian Roberts with 11.

ON THE RUN -- A tongue-wagging PHC Kids forward attempts to get past his opposite number from St. David's during the Upper Eight Mini-Minor Knockout final at the National Stadium last weekend.