basketball showdown against Mount Saint Agnes: The law of averages.

"Beating them for a third time will be hard -- especially in a week,'' Evans said following Whitney's 41-33 decision over MSA in Saturday's final of the week-long Commercial Risk Bermuda Basketball Association Tournament at Bermuda College.

After losing to MSA in last month's Saltus Secondary School Tournament, Whitney got their revenge this past week, posting four straight wins -- including two over MSA. Now the two teams return to league play, where they are both 4-0, for their lone regular-season meeting today.

The way Evans sees it, he has good reason to be wary.

"They're a well-coached team, they play really hard and they play together,'' he said. "They capitalise on your mistakes and they never give up.'' A case in point was Saturday, when Whitney jumped into the early lead and were up 31-21 to start the fourth quarter. Five minutes later the lead was down to two and MSA came within a Kevin Mooney three-point attempt of going in front.

The shot missed and Whitney used some key rebounds and free throws by Dwayne Smith and Lloyd Peterkin to end the threat.

Mooney led MSA with 15 points, the same as Whitney's Javin Taylor.

Mooney was named MVP of the eight-team boys division and joined both Peterkin and Taylor on the All-Tournament Team. Berkeley's John Barry Nusum and Warwick Academy's Andrew Olson also were named to the squad.

En route to the final of the double-elimination tournament, Whitney also beat Northlands and Berkeley. MSA sandwiched wins over Warwick Secondary and Warwick Academy around their loss to Whitney.

Mooney led MSA into the final by scoring 21 points and supplying a key block in the final seconds in a 60-59 semi-final win over Berkeley. Up by 11 at the half, MSA actually trailed by five late in the fourth quarter.

Nusum scored 33 of the Berkeley points.

Eight teams also took part in the girls division, with Berkeley scoring a 35-27 win over MSA in the final.

Tournament MVP Tashae Thompson had 17 points for Berkeley, who bolted to a 13-2 first-quarter lead. Nicole Brunson topped MSA with seven points.

Berkeley took the long way to the championship, winning three games (over Warwick Secondary, Warwick Academy and Northlands) but losing to MSA in the early rounds. MSA also defeated St. George's and Northlands for the easy route into the final.

Brunson and Thompson both made the All-Tournament Team, as did Shahri Scraders (Berkeley), Mikalea Sallivan (Northlands) and Laura Santos (Warwick Academy).

Thompson scored 27 of Berkeley's points in a 33-32 win over Northlands in the semi-final. Sallivan had 17 for Northlands, who missed four free throws down the stretch.