AFTER falling to their rivals in game one, coach Darcel Harris said that his men will rebound and that they did when Guyana defeated Suriname 57-50 to even their three-game series on Saturday evening in Paramaribo. The Guyanese ‘ballers’ turned in an impressive performance, thanks to their collective approach to the game.
As tired as the men from ‘GT’ were in the first game after arriving the same night of the game, they were still able to evenly match their Dutch rivals and vowed to return and fight harder, only wanting a good night’s rest.
Harris made a few changes to the team, bringing in Randy Richardson, Kurt Elias, Stephan Gillis and Chris Williams, to join Akeem Kanhai (captain), Ryan Gullen, Dave Causeway, Shelroy Thomas, Jermaine Slater, Travis Burnett, Harold Adams and Rudy James.
Behind Causeway, Thomas and Kanhai, Guyana opened with a 6-0 run with Harris turning to his backcourt having an advantage in that department against Suriname.
Causeway, who ended the game with 13 points four steals and three assists, scored six of Guyana’s 18 first quarter points.
Leading 18-10 heading into the second period, Causeway, Gullen and Kanhai kept Guyana in the lead while in the front court Slater and James were manning the paint.
Suriname’s Yves Goedschalk (14 points) kept his team in the game and helped his country to claw their way back into the contest, but still trailed the visitors 27-35.
Though dominating the game, Guyana finished with 21 turnovers, and the cookie had started to crumble in the third quarter.
Guyana shot 10-22 from the free throw line as a team, and it was their backcourt who were reckless with the ball. Kanhai (5), Causeway (6) and Thomas (4) accounted for 15 of their team’s total turnovers.
Suriname, however, failed to capitalise on the Guyanese ‘bad handle’ as both team went into a scoring slump.
Only Gullen (13 points 8 rebounds), Kanhai (9 points 7 rebounds 3 assists) and Thomas (9 points 3 assists 6 rebounds) scored in the third stanza, but the visitors still held on to a 43-35 advantage heading into the fourth and final period.
With Guyana still careless with the ‘rock’, Suriname sparked a comeback.
Stuck on 43 for at least halfway through the fourth, Guyana watched as Suriname controlled both ends of the floor.
Going on a 10-0 stroll against Guyana, Suriname were on the verge on staging an upset, until Gullen hit a deep three-pointer from the corner, just in front of the Guyanese bench and the crowd in the venue went silent.
Slater had another impressive game on the ‘glass’, grabbing 11 rebounds to go along with his eight points that came from 4-4 shooting on the floor.
Slater’s rebounding enabled Guyana to get second-chance baskets and outlet fast break points, though Suriname outscored the Guyanese 14-16 in the final period.
The two sides met last evening for the final game.