By Daniel Haynes

THE Youth Basketball Guyana (YBG) National Schools basketball tournament was officially opened at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall yesterday.The festival opened with a march-past of teams , where they lined up and walked into the Sports Hall displaying their uniforms for fans and officials.

Speaking at the opening ceremony were: YBG Director,Chris Bowman; Director of Sport,Christopher Jones;and Digicel Events and Sponsorship Manager, Louanna Abrams.

According to Bowman, “NSBF is now in its eleventh year and what started with just the U-19 category in a loser-go-home format, has now blossomed to hold four categories with a more complex system.” He added that the festival now has more sponsors on board; and thanked them for their support.

Abrams added that DIgicel would continue to support the festival and is glad to be a part of the event, while Jones stated,“We at the National Sports Commission are happy to continue our support and we see the need for athletics in school,and are happy to see YBG playing a part.”

After the ceremony,Kwakwani Secondary U-14 team took on St. Rose’s U-14 in a highly anticipated match up. It was all guns blazing for the Kwakwani side who quickly gained a commanding lead and held their opponents scoreless for 12 minutes in the first half.

Led by prolific point guard, Kadeem Dover,and streaky shooter Javon Brutus,Kwakwani held the lead 17-2. There were more highlights in the second half as Dover racked up 10 steals while Brutus poured in three straight 3-pointers, for 9 points out of his11,to close out the game 52-7.

The duo stated that they were just interested in playing and moving forward,as there were bigger and better to come in the tournament. For St Rose’s, Jaheem Barton and Jadan Craig scored 5 and 2 points respectively.

In the second matchup, Marian Academy girls took on Mackenzie High;with the game finishing 24-02. For Marian Academy, it was Jada Mohan who racked up the stats with 8 points, 5 rebounds and 6 steals, while Georgina Vyphuis added 8 points and 9 rebounds,with Jahrier Young adding 6.

In the final game of the night,President’s College U-19 defeated a lacklustre Bishops’ High School in a game that finished 37-25. Bishops’ jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead but President’s College battled back to finish the first quarter 9-8.

The second quarter saw President’s College pushing the tempo to outrun the Bishops’ side who looked tired and were down by 3 at the end of the half.

The second half saw more of the same with President’s College pushing to a 12 point lead. There was a bit of drama in the game when guard Leon Harte hit a Bishops’ defender with a crossover that dropped him to the floor. For President’s College,it was a rounded game with Jaleel Duke finishing with 10 points, Leon Harte on 8 points, and duo Anton Fileen and Eli Innis finishing with 6.

For Bishops,’ Timothy Thompson finished with 11 points and 11 rebounds,in a performance that was below his standard. Mikhail Broomes, John Edghill and Chris Semple each finished with 4 points in the losing effort.

The tournament is sponsored by Digicel, Banks DIH Limited and Beharry Group of Companies.