LINDEN’S Victory Valley Royals’ impressive run in the inaugural Forbes Burnham Memorial Basketball Championship came to an abrupt end after losing to the Colts 57-64 when the two teams met at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall on Wednesday night. National point guard Shelroy Thomas was unstoppable on the night, scoring an impressive 22 points and was supported by Rayon Cummings who netted 12 points.
The Royals’ Orlan Glasgow did exactly what was asked of him by his team and hammered in 22 points and Lawrence De Costa assisted with 10 points.
Colts have now booked a place in the final where they would play the winner of the Half Mile Bulls/Pacesetters clash which is set for Saturday at the same venue.
In the earlier exchanges, Royals held on to a one point (15-14) lead at the end of the first period and held on to their advantage; scoring 22 points in the second half as compared to the 17 scored by Colts to close the half leading 37-31.
The Lindeners played well at both ends of the floor and continued their up-tempo style of play to close the penultimate period with a 52-45 points lead.
But, things took a turn in the final stanza of the contest. Colts turned up the pressure defensively and restricted the Royals to just seven points and netted 19 of their own to make their trip to the final.
Meanwhile, after the conclusion of the game, things got physical between Colts and National point guard Dave Causeway and Pacesetters centre Jermaine Hamilton.
Causeway had thrown a basketball off the court that struck Hamilton during the game and the Pacesetter player, who was heckling the Colts team from the stands for the duration of the game, felt that Colts point guard act was deliberate.
Hamilton then approached Causeway after the game dealt him several blows, even though his teammates attempted to talk him out of physically harming Causeway.
President of the Guyana Amateur Basketball Federation (GABF) Nigel Hinds, in an invited comment, made it clear that his Federation would not entertain such behaviour in the sport and added that the two players will be disciplined.
“Both players are suspended until further notice from GABF,” said Hinds, who added, “The GABF has a meeting scheduled for September 6, 2015 – where the GABF executive will address the conduct of both players and make a definitive pronouncement on the issue, based on our current gathering of information related to the altercation.”