Marist’s Faamoana sets up defence as Crusaders Timmy Magi tries to go past him yesterday…Photo Taromane Martin.

CRUSADERS men’s basketball team were hammered by Marist in their Empire Solomon Group Tip-Off match yesterday as they were trampled 64-24 at the Multipurpose Hall.

Marist dominated the match, shooting 22 points in the first quarter while giving away only eight points to a struggling Crusaders side.

Fourteen more points followed in the second quarter for Marist who was breaking through Crusaders defense like knife through butter.

Down 36-17, Crusaders opted to collecting the three pointers instead of the two point’s baskets but could not find the aim, Tuvako Zutu and Bryce Masae missing number of chances in the third quarter.

Brian Feni was superb for Marist displaying some fine skills and dribbling as they rounded 16 more points to take the game out of Crusaders reach, the scores reading 52-19.

Twelve more points followed for Marist in the final quarter as they finished the game 64- 24 to end Crusaders three match unbeaten run in the competition.

Meanwhile, Gunners men’s team had to claw their way back from defeat to claim a 37:34 win over Snakes.

Snakes led the first quarter and maintained their lead in the second quarter with a 23-13 score line.

Gunners with their height advantage had to be patient fighting back to close the score margin by four points, 24-20 at the end of third quarter.

With a total of five team fouls committed by Snakes, Gunners were enjoying collecting points from the free-throws collecting 13 points to steal the win.

Result for other matches from the 2017 Empire Solomon Group Tip-Off challenge is as follows;

SOSSA women’s team defeated Andel 42-28 while SOSSA men’s basketball team drew 30-30 with Bullets yesterday.