HAVING lost to their Guyanese counterparts in the morning session, Suriname’s male and female junior basketball teams turned up the pressure at the Walter Amos Sports Hall to not only avenge that defeat and

subsequently take the gold medal in the second leg of the Inter-Guiana Goodwill Games last Saturday night.
However, Guyana had something to shout about as their junior table tennis team which comprised Elishaba Johnson, Shemar Britton, Kyle Edghill, Priscilla Greaves and Kristie Lopes, took one hour to dispose of their Surinamese counterparts, to take that category with ease, giving their country something to smile about.
Guyana’s male and female basketball teams took the court for the return fixture, buoyed with confidence following their early morning win, knowing that if they should lose the return fixture, the males must not go down by 8 points, while the females needed to avoid defeat by 11 points, in order to take the gold.
What transpired was historic, as Suriname’s Simone Esajas who scored 23 points along with Luciana Fang and Agida Eersleling’s 21 and 16 points respectively, propelled their team to an authoritative 68-51 victory, securing the gold medal in the process.
Loquanta Gibson got 18 points, 4 rebounds, 3 steals, 2 assists and 1 blocked shot to lead the Guyanese, receiving support from Tamera Hunter who got 14 points, 7 rebounds and 3 steals and Genelle Ifill’s 5 points and 13 rebounds, after they were forced to contest the return fixture without the services of Felicia Sears, who suffered dehydration midway the third quarter of the first matchup.
To add insult to injury, the ladies saw Hunter, one of their key players at the top, being forced to undergo treatment on a consistent basis for pain in her knees and was forced to play within her limitations, a result the Surinamese capitalised on to take the win.
Having seen their female counterparts humiliated by the opposition, Guyana’s junior male team took to the court and immediately signalled their intentions to cart off the gold, by racing to a 6-0 lead within the first three minutes of the contest, thanks to two shots from beyond the arc from Nikolai Smith.
The home team, who were led by Watamalas Gylen who scored a game-high 33 points and Aikman Jay 14 points, drew level thanks to Gylen, who consistently drove the lane without resistance; amidst the presence of Guyana’s big two in Travis Dryden and Linden Fraser.
However, some confident shooting from the Guyanese, whose scoring was led by Smith and David Plass, 15 points each, along with Leonard Primo 11 points, ensured the visitors ended the first quarter with a 15-13 lead, with Smith hitting his third shot from beyond the arc.
Not to be daunted by their opponents’ control of the game, Suriname went on a 6-0 run at the start of the second quarter, as both Gylen and Jay, along with Donovan Plak, fought back gallantly for their team, before Plass took matters into his own hands for the Guyanese.
He had two rebounds and the same number of steals to match his points, but it was the manner in which he got those points that spoke volumes for the team from the Land of Many Waters.
First, he snatched a loose ball from Gylen and made his way up court with little or no support from his teammates and in true Reggie Miller fashion, pulled up at the top of the arc and let loose one from downtown, despite the presence of two players from the opposition in his face.
As if to show that it was no fluke, Plass repeated the effort twice, as Guyana went on a 10-0 run to take a 25-19 lead, forcing the Surinamese to call a timeout, following which Plass got back-to-back baskets to reduce the deficit by 4 with 3:03 to go before the break.
As both teams got involved in a see-saw battle for possession and with the officials blowing heavily in favour of the home team, Guyana’s coach Lugard Mohan picked up a technical foul just on the stroke of halftime, with Gylen scoring both shots to level the score at 34, with two quarters to play.
Both teams came out with guns blazing for the third quarter but at the end of it, the home team were in the driver’s seat with a slim lead, 60 to 58, as they outscored their opponents 26 to 24 in the period.
Even though they were down by two points, the Guyanese did not gather their wits together and lost the services of Fraser, who was fouled out with less than five minutes to go in the contest, but not before he scored 5 points and snatched 9 rebounds.
His exit enabled the home team to open up their lead as the visitors committed several unforced turnovers, got three shot clock violations and two back court violations during the period and with 32.2 seconds to go, the Surinamese and their vociferous band of supporters were celebrating their team’s 74-63 lead.
They eventually won 77-65 to join their female counterparts on the top podium, while their opponents were left to ponder on their misses, turnovers and unforced errors.
In the table tennis side of things, Johnson recorded a 11-5, 11-1, 11-6 victory over Mitchel Tamin, Britton defeated Kono Abas 11-4, 11-8, 9-11, 11-4 before Edghill showed his class with a 11-8, 11-6, 11-5 victory over Adesh Jawahir, taking the Guyanese Boys to a comfortable 3-0 win.
Lopes and Greaves ensured the Surinamese came away empty-handed from the table tennis arena, by defeating Rishma Ramdass and Zone Hooghart 11-3, 11-4, 11-4 and 11-1, 11-1, 11-0 respectively before they teamed up to demolish the Ramdass and Hooghart in the doubles 11-1, 11-1, 11-1.
At the presentation ceremony that followed, Guyana’s Chef de Mission Dr Karen Pilgrim thanked Suriname’s Minister of Sport Ismanto Adna and the Surinamese for their hospitality, while she applauded her country’s basketball team, especially the females, for their wonderful efforts on the court.