Pepsi Street Series basketball playoffs …
THE Guyana Defence Force (GDF), Dyna’s Ravens and Nets third division teams were the latest in winners’ row when the Guyana Amateur Basketball Association (GABA) Pepsi Street Series Basketball Playoffs continued on Tuesday night at the Burnham Basketball Court. The night saw the army team come from behind to defeat the Nets 49-40 in the opening encounter then Ravens outplayed Melanie Patriots 63-59 in the feature match.
This past Saturday the showdown between Bounty Colts and Colors Panthers which was forced to a halt because of a power failure, concluded the following day and Panthers prevailed 51-49 over Colts.
Last night, the Beepat Scorpions team was billed to play Colors Panthers in the first match while Nets challenged Macabees in the other match-up.
Tomorrow, the open category resumes with Panthers and Colts going head-to-head from 18:00 h then Ravens meet Macabees at 19:30 h.
On Tuesday night, the first game had Nets commanding the board in the first half and the third quarter but through Royston James and Hollis Mendonza, GDF quickly turned the tables and took control of the battle.
Nets led the first quarter 11-6, were still in the lead at halftime with 22-14 and concluded the third quarter with an 11-point lead (33-22).
However, the fitness and defensive pressure of the GDF team played a major role in the final quarter which led to their victory.
Several turnovers were forced by GDF through their defence while on offence they began capitalising on the majority of their opportunities to comprehensively outscore in the final quarter (27-7).
James finished on 13 points while Mendonza and Rondell Edwards each pitched in with 10 points for GDF while Dorrison Lewis (17 points) was the only player for Nets to reach double figures.
Later in the night, Tyrone Hamid put on a tremendous performance to lead Ravens past Patriots. Hamid, normally dominant in his game play scored an impressive 29 points while his team mate Marlon Haynes pitched in with an important 12.
Even though Maxwell Thomas, Ashton Adams and Curtley put on good performances by accumulating 13, 12 and 10 points respectively, it was not enough to outdo the Ravens squad.