– Tournament to bounce off April 7

WITH the Caribbean Basketball Confederation (CBC) Championship drawing near, Guyana’s top ‘ballers’ would want to impress the selectors at the National Club Championship, which will bounce off on Saturday, April 7, at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.

President of the Guyana Amateur Basketball Federation (GABF) Nigel Hinds told Chronicle Sport that all systems are in place for the Championship that will crown the country’s number one basketball club.

Ravens are the notable omission from this year’s tournament. They have had a topsy-turvy 2017 and one which saw the country’s once top club fall out of contention at the Georgetown Amateur Basketball Association (GABA) level.

The GABF released their Group standings for the April 7-28 tournament, which will see defending champions Colts placed with Linden’s Half Mile Bulls, Plaisance Guardians, Pacesetters and their 2016 final opponents Retrieve Raiders.

In Group Two, last year’s finalists Victory Valley Royals will play Kobras, fellow Linden side Amelia’s Ward Jets, Nets and a club from Berbice to be determined by the GABF.

The Group stage will play in a round-robin format, where the top two teams will advance to the knock-out stage.

At last year’s National Club Championship, Colts retained their title after narrowly edging Linden’s Victory Valley Royals in an 85-83-point thriller.

The win also saw Colts pocket $600 000 while Royals received $400 000. In the third-place playoff, Travis Burnett carried the Kobras to a third-place finish and a $200 000 cash prize, following their 76-75 extra-time victory over Ravens.

The GABF will send a male and a female team to this year’s CBC Championship, set for neighbouring Suriname from June 15 to 22 (female) and June 25-29 (male).