GUYANA opened their three-game ‘Goodwill Series’ against Bermuda with a thrilling come-from-behind 76-73 points victory when the two countries met at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall on Wednesday. It was only the second meeting between the two countries after Bermuda had defeated Guyana 68-58 at the 2011 Caribbean Basketball Confederation (CBC) Championship in Bahamas.

Bermuda, behind their captain and star player Sullivan Phillips who dominated the contest pouring in a game-high 18 points using his distinct height advantage against the local guards, had led at the end of every period before letting the lead slip to the Guyanese with 2:10 minutes remaining in the final stanza.
Head coach Darcel Harris started with Ryan Gullen, Dave Causway, Shelroy Thomas, Akeem Kanhai and Jermaine Slater in a move which drew much criticism from the enthusiastic crowd at the venue.
Harris went small; something everyone expected since he had previously pointed out that Guyana lacked quality big men and he was forced to work with what is present.
His starting-five didn’t prove much, forcing the Ravens coach to make a drastic change midway the first quarter, bringing in Stephan Gillis, Travis Burnett, Randy Richardson, Royston Siland and Ryan Stephney and the Guyanese trailed the visitors 16-18 to close out the first period.
Tried they did but Bermuda, behind Phillips continued to dominate the contest and held on to a 37-36 lead at the end of the first half.
The visitors held to that lead throughout the game and ended the penultimate period 57-51 but behind Thomas, Burnett, Causway and Kanhai, the tide turned in favour of the home side.
With the crowd fully behind them and chants of “defence” and objects pounding, Guyana found a new gear as coach Harris went small and it paid dividends.
However, back-to-back trips to the free-throw line and bad judgement by the Guyanese ‘ballers’ helped the Bermudans to 66-62 points lead with 3:53 remaining in the game.
With 2:45 remaining Kanhai collected a rebound and in one motion, found Burnett on an outlet and the speedy guard, who led all Guyanese scorers with a team-high 17 points, made no mistake in scoring to an empty basket.
Burnett was later fouled and hit both free-throws and that saw Guyana take the lead for the first time 69-68. Gullen then extended it to 71-68 when he scored from a steal when the Bermudans were inbounding the ball in their back-court.
Phillips, like he has done during his career playing for Bermuda, put his country on his shoulders and carried them to tie the game at 71 with 58 seconds left.
Gullen then scored what turned out to be the game’s decisive basket – a three-pointer taking Guyana to 74-71 against the visitors.
The crowd erupted and Bermuda found themselves deeper in the pit when Causway intercepted a pass and converted it, to put the scores 76-73 with 10.7 seconds remaining in the game.
Phillips’ three-point attempt went short and the home side held on to secure their redemption win over Bermuda. The two sides met last night and would wrap up their series tomorrow.
Thomas chipped in with 14 points, Kanhai had 11 points, four steals and four assists while Causway and Gullen had ten points each.
Deon Jones (17), Chris Crumpler (11) and Jeron Haley with nine were the top performers for the Bermudans.

(By Rawle Toney)