AMELIA’S Ward Jets will be looking to make amends tonight, when they face Victory Valley Royals at 20:30hrs, following the first match between Half Mile Bulls and Block 22 Flames from 18:30hrs at the Mackenzie Sports Club hard court, in the inaugural BOSAI Minerals Group (Guyana) Inc. Open Challenge basketball championship.

Having begun this tournament as the number two-rated club, the Jets, who suffered a controversial 47-46 loss to Retrieve Raiders in their last game, are favoured to prevail in this game against the third seed Royals, but they cannot take their opponents lightly.
The fact that the Royals had defeated the Jets when the two teams last met in the Trophy Stall tournament makes such a match-up interesting.
At the same time, the Jets will be seeking to improve on their showing with another win as they are currently lying in second position on five points behind the leaders Raiders who have eight.
The Jets will throw their big bodies at the smaller Royals lineup and how the Royals respond will determine what kind of game fans will see.
The Jets will go down low at the post areas where national centre Shane Webster and his brother Allister can deliver high percentage shots or they can kick it out to guards Kevin ‘Two-Feet’ Joseph and Leonard Caleb to knockdown shots also.
The Royals are good at transition basketball but the Jets are not going to give them much room for such forays, which means the Royals will have to break down the Jets defence with their faster players, a task that can be a difficult one for much bigger teams.
Their best player is guard Marlon Pollydore who is good at taking the ball to the basket but against this big Jets side it could be a weak strategy and he will definitely depend heavily on the likes of Harold Adams and Orlando Glasgow as they will have to step up their front court and centre Mark Richards will be tasked with dealing with the twin centres in Shane and Allister Webster.
The other match will be one between Half Mile Bulls – who have tee points after one win and a loss – against Flames who have four points and have suffered four losses in the process.
Bulls have their top players in the experienced Kurleigh Austin and young guns like Michael Turner and Keon Cameron to steady them to an important win as the Flames will rely on their best shoots in Aubrey Johnson, Quincy Richmond, Selwyn Noble and Devon Morrison to spring a surprise and walk away with their first win tonight.
Tomorrow night, the action continues with the Royals facing the Bulls in the first game at 19:00hrs while at 21:00hrs points leaders Retrieve Raiders who have eight points from four wins, are going to keep that unblemished record intact against the Kashif and Shanghai Kings, who scored one win and have two losses for four points, in what should be a splendid matchup.