… Both Guyana teams suffer losses

AS the Inter-Guiana Games (IGG) basketball best-of-three series tipped off yesterday at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall, Guyana’s male and female teams came up short, losing their opening games.
Suriname made sure Guyanese fans had heavy hearts as their females had a dominating performance and their males came from behind to win.
In the first game of the day, Suriname females cruised to a 69-25 win as Guyana simply looked nervous and outmatched in their encounter.

Suriname’s team comprised mostly players from the recently concluded Caribbean Basketball Confederation (CBC) U-16 Championships. For Guyana, despite having players with IGG experience and three players with CBC experience, Suriname were the better team on the day.
Suriname never relinquished the lead after jumping out to a 5-0 start in the first two minutes of the game. Suriname finished the first half 32-7, halfway home to a dominating performance. Most of their points came from captain Cyarah Kensmil who had 17 points in the win, with Stephanie Hubard and Mirelva Marica each finishing with 10 points. For Guyana, Kennesha Leacock had a team-high 9 points.
It was the male encounter that gave fans a match despite Guyana falling 74-68 to the visitors. From trading baskets to both teams going on runs, Suriname came back to hold onto a 6-point victory. It was a learning experience for Guyana.
Led by Travis Belgrave, Jamol Gilkes and Stanton Rose who had 15, 13 and 14 points respectively, Guyana showed flashes of a team that could certainly contest for the gold medal. However, Suriname’s trio of Charf Elburg, Bjorn Ewijk and Dancell Leter, who finished with 17, 13 and 14 respectively, spoiled the party for Guyana.
Guyana trailed by 2 points at the end of the first quarter but came back to lead by 7 points at the end of the first half 36-29 behind GIlkes’ shooting and Belgrave’s punching the lane for finishes at the rim.
The second half saw Guyana lead up to the 5:18 mark in the third quarter when Donyell Samson had back-to-back layups to extend it to a 43-39 lead after Elburg hit a three to tie the game 39-39.
The change in the game, however, came when Emile LaRose of Suriname had a breakaway dunk to start the pulling away for Suriname.
The fourth quarter saw Guyana try to battle back from an 8-point lead for Suriname, but only managing to cut it to 6 at the end of the game. The turnover battle was won by Suriname whose high-pressure defence saw them home.
According to Guyana coach Junior Hercules, “We have not shown our best, we’ve seen Suriname at their best; we just have to correct our mistakes.”
Action continues today at 17:00hrs at the same venue.