THE ‘MECCA TO MACKENZIE’ triple-header will bounce off tomorrow night at the Mackenzie Sports Club hardcourt, enabling the Linden clubs a chance to even the scores with their Georgetown counterparts after losses at the recently concluded Guyana Amateur Basketball Federation’s ‘Road to Mecca’ National Club championships which was won by Dyna’s Ravens, who beat Linden’s Retrieve Raiders in the final.The night’s event is one where clubs will not only play for bragging rights in an atmosphere that should favour the home teams, but cash incentives are up for the taking, courtesy of the Sports Management Entertainment Inc.
Each match will see the winners getting $50 000 and the losers $25 000, which is likely to promote strong competition on the court tomorrow night.
The first game bounces off at 19:00hrs, between the top-ranked Linden side Kings, who play their counterparts Trinity Grid Holdings Pacesetters. This game will be like a derby since neither side advanced to the final as predicted after losing to their fourth-ranked domestic rivals.
However, the question is: are the Kings up to the task of turning back the challenge of Pacesetters, who as usual will be led by Travis Burnett, even as the Kings look to their sharpshooter Orin Rose for their victory.
The second game pits Amelia’s Ward Jets who, this time around will be going all out to topple the running Colts side on home turf, when they collide from 22:00hrs. The Colts are expected to bring their running game as usual, led by Shelroy Thomas while the Jets string inside players especially Shane Webster will look to halt them in their tracks.
Fittingly, national club champions Dyna’s Ravens will take the court for the final game which is set to commence at 22:00hrs against the team they defeated in the ‘Road to Mecca’ final – Retrieve Raiders, a matchup which should bring curious basketball fans to the venue to witness a game which should go down to the wire if the Raiders perform at their best.
Hopefully, the Raiders will be resting their hopes on the likes of Neil Marks, once available Dwayne ‘Brown Sugar’ Roberts, Dwight McKinnon and young Keon Cameron.
However, the national champions, undoubtedly having the best unit in local basketball, will not be taking this side lightly and their usual dependency will be on the superb standout players like their Most Valuable Player Akeem ‘The Dream’ Kanhai, Rodwell Fortune, Dominic Vincente and Ryan Stephney.