,,, Ravens and Jets to clash for third place
DAVID versus Goliath is unarguably one of the most famous stories in the Old Testament. Apart from it being about faith and trust in God, it also tells about courage and the will to overthrow those who seem superior and invincible.
This is most applicable to the matchup between Linden’s Victory Valley Royals (David) and Georgetown’s Pacesetters taking the form of Goliath in the Final of the third Brusche’s Basketball Classic which is on tonight at the Mackenzie Sports Club Hard Court.
The Brusche’s Classic seems to belong to Pacesetters since they won the inaugural event and were edged out in the final of the second edition by Wismar Pistons and are now playing in their third consecutive final. They made it in most dramatic fashion by defeating their nemesis and Georgetown Champions, Dyna’s Ravens, in the semi-finals 66–62.
But for the Royals, the story is different. The side hailing from the Wismar shore was once one of Linden’s most feared team having been equipped with several of the town/country’s premier players and then like they say, “after one time comes another”.
The likes of Mark Richards, Alwyn ‘Shaq’ Wilson, Julius Carter, Troy Jeffery, Dwight Cooper, Anson Durant and Dwayne ‘Brown Sugar’ Roberts among many others, have either transferred to other clubs or simply stepped away from the game to fulfil personal and family commitments.
However, the club which has a strong youth base due to hosting of their annual schools basketball championship, refused to fall by the wayside like many have done when faced with certain circumstances.
Chris Williams and Marlon Pollydore, two of the club’s best young prospects teamed up with Orlan Glasgow, Harold Adams and Alwyn Rodney to form what is now called the ‘Fab-5’ to lead the resurgence of the basketball club.
So far, they have played three games in the tournament; first opening with a 54–41 points win over Retrieve Raiders, then showed their worth against a formidable Kashif and Shanghai Kings side 44–75.
The young Royals seem like old wine; getting better with every game played, as they crushed pre-tournament favourites Amelia’s Ward Jets by 31 points (68-37) in route to tonight’s final.
But while Lindeners are rallying behind the Royals, they are being humble about the fact that Pacesetters wouldn’t be an easy task for the team who are riding on pure individual skills.
National players Stephan Gillis and Royston Siland along with Naylon Loncke and former junior National point guard Travis Burnett are the players who have been doing the ‘dirty work’ for national coach Robert ‘Bobby’ Cadogan.
Their win over Ravens last weekend has certainly boosted their confidence and as one of their players said, “Anytime you hear Brusche’s Classic, just hand Pacesetters the trophies in advance”.
In their win over Ravens whom they haven’t defeated since 2009, Burnett displayed a ruthless form in getting to the paint where his scoring percentage is very high. He scored 27 points in that game and it would be interesting to see how Pollydore would match up against him, knowing also that he (Burnett) is strong on the defensive end of the floor as well.
For the Royals, all of their players are certainly playing out of position; for example, Williams is better known for his shooting from beyond the arc but is now playing in the power forward position along with Glasgow and Adams.
However in the match-ups, city-based basketball fans would certainly go for the Pacesetters, but in Linden, the Royals’ determined and hungry display of the game have won the hearts even of their opposition whom they eliminated and as such it’s certain that the capacity crowd that is expected will by fully behind them.
The third place game also has an intriguing twist to it since its two powerful teams (Jets and Ravens) have both fallen after much was expected of them.
Jump-ball time is set for 18:30hrs