Marshall stars but Guyana lose second game, to US Virgin Islands 95-75

AFTER a disappointing opening game against the British Virgin Islands (99-63) on Tuesday night Guyana did bounce back, but fell 95-75 to defending Champions US Virgin Islands yesterday on day two of the Caribbean Basketball Confederation (CBC) Championship. 

A game-high 23 points from captain and former Dallas Mavericks and Indiana Pacers shooting guard Rawle Marshall was not enough to save Guyana who put on a much better performance than they did against the BVI.
Marshall also had eight rebounds and dished out five assists and, along with Andrew Ifill (14 points, 9 rebounds) and Gordon Klaiber (13 points), Guyana were kept in the game.
The Guyanese have only their dismal first quarter performance to blame for the loss, as they trailed 24-19 at the end of the first period.
They scored 11 points compared to 18 points for the eventual winners and closed the half trailing 42-30. But from the second half, it was an entire different story.
It was evident from the first game that the lack of ‘big men’ failed Guyana; giving up 46 points in the paint (same as they did in game one).
Thanks to Marshall’s shooting and getting to the free throw line, Guyana were kept in the game and though they (Guyana) outscored the USVI 20-19 in the third quarter, the scoreboard read 66-54 all in favour of the defending champions.
Amelia’s Ward Jets centre Shane Webster came off the bench and added 10 points (5-6 shooting) and grabbed seven rebounds yet coach Mark Agard and his assistant Kevin Joseph limited his time on the floor.
Webster had a better showing than Dwayne ‘Brown Sugar’ Roberts (4 points, 2 rebounds) but was still left off the court at a time when Guyana were on a comeback and the USVI men had no stops for the Guyanese centre.
Aaron Brown from the University of Southern Mississippi did the damage early on the Guyanese and finished the game with 15 points while Cuthbert Victor netted a team-high 18 points and point guard Angel Rivera had 17 points for the USVI who will now play the BVI today.
Guyana also shot poorly from the free throw line, hitting 17 shots from their given 32 whereas the USVI made 10 of their given 14 shots from the charity line.
The USVI shot 11 of 30 from beyond the arc while Guyana shot eight from 25. Though lacking in size, Guyana did out-rebound the USVI 40-37.
Meanwhile, in the other match played yesterday, Cuba defeated St Vincent 86-58 after sailing to an easy 82-56 victory over Antigua on Tuesday.
The best scorer for the Cubans was William Granda, who sank 19 points, while for Nyika Williams and John Gardiner recorded 17 points each for St Vincent.
Guyana will play Barbados today at 16:15hrs in the second game of the day after the Antigua versus St Vincent and the Grenadines opener at 14:00hrs.
In the other games scheduled, Cuba come up against the Bahamas and the defending champs (USVI) face the BVI.
Written By Rawle Toney

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