By Joe Chapman

THE battle lines have been drawn and it is up to the leading players to bring home the bacon when the Linden Amateur Basketball Association (LABA)/104.3 Power FM Radio MASH Open basketball championship concludes tonight at the Mackenzie Sports Club hard court. Game time is 21:00hrs.The top teams Half Mile Bulls and Retrieve Raiders will go at each other for the top prize of $150 000 and the huge trophy.
Half Mile Bulls, currently the number one-rated club in Linden, will seek to maintain their dominance and ranking when they face the challenge of the Raiders in what could be a keen contest.
Having said that, the two teams are honing their skills to make a challenge at the National Club Championship which is now known as the ‘Road to Mecca’ tournament.
The Raiders could also, while being ranked second to the Bulls in Linden when the draw was made, take over as the top-ranked club, should they defeat the Bulls this time around.
This is because the LABA in 2012 had instituted a ranking format for its clubs which will be dynamic and will change according to the performances of clubs after each tournament is recognised by the association.
The Bulls are on seven points and should they lose then the Raiders will join them at the podium with 12 points, since for each tournament win a club gets seven points and the losers come away with five, third-place clubs receive three, fourth two and fifth one point.
Having placed one-two in the last tournament, the Bulls with another win would get another seven points and move to 14 points and the Raiders would then have ten points.
This will reflect with the other third-place playoff game where the Royals currently on three points are ahead of the Jets, who were unable to contest for third place and got fourth. They forfeited their semifinal game in the recent Malt Supreme Christmas Open basketball tournament and were handed the fourth place and have only one point as against the two by the Royals.
Therefore they will also be battling for the right to be rated number three and four when this tournament concludes tonight. They clash at 19:00hrs in the first game. (Joe Chapman)