Two players from last year’s junior national basketball team on Wednesday led their respective teams to the finals of the Guyana Secondary Schools Basketball Associa-tion `March Madness’ play-offs.

Sixteen year-old Akeem Kanhai of the Mackenzie High School (MHS) and Orin Rose of the Linden Technical Institute (LTI), piloted their teams to remarkable come-from-behind wins over New Silver City Secondary School (NSCSS) and Wismar/ Christianburg Multilateral School (WCMS) respectively at the Mackenzie Sports Club hard court.

Kanhai registered 22 points as MHS triumphed 37-32 against NSCSS 37-32 in overtime in a 50 minute thriller which saw MHS trailing NSCSS for the entire 20-minute first half and about 17 minutes into the second half.

NSCSS executed flawlessly in the open court during the first half as point guard Marvin Russell hurt the MHS defence with his deadly mid-range jump shots.

Trailing 10-18 at halftime, MHS found themselves trailing by as much as 12 points with five minutes remaining in regulation time.

But Kanhai stepped up. He began to attack the basket creating opportunities for his team by forcing many turnovers as MHS complete a 12-0 run to tie the game at 26.

Fuelled by the thunderous chants of ‘defence’ from their bench along with shouts of MHS from the fans, Kanhai’s team was able to make some crucial plays to force a tie and take the game to overtime.

In overtime, Kanhai drew so much attention from the NSCSS players that his teammates were able to step up and make big plays while NSCSS failed to score any points in the period.

Coach of MHS, Quincy Cummings, told Stabroek Sport after the game that his strategy was to run the offence through Kanhai and Omar Sam and though it took a while to take its full effect, he was confident that his team’s defence would help the players to get a rhythm offensively.

Kanhai said that his selection to the junior national squad last year helped his game in many ways and gave him the confidence to step up at critical moments in the game.

“I gained a lot of confidence from the junior nationals last year and it was an honour since there were many players from Linden on that team, and that confidence and courage helped me to step up tonight,” he said.

In the first game Rose registered 15 points for LTI in similar come-from-behind win by LTI over a determined WCMS 43-29.

LTI trailed by more than seven points in the first half but Rose caught fire and punished Wismar/Christianburg for not guarding him closely enough.

Jahson Braithwaite and Colin Paul contributed seven points each for LTI while

Stravin Etienne led Wismar/Christianburg with 10 points and Kevin Sullivan and Laurend Sampson added eight and seven points respectively.

The Linden conference final between LTI and MHS is set for today at the Mackenzie Sports Club hard-court from 3pm.