by Rawle Toney
HE was considered one of the best players in the Caribbean. His flamboyance, sniper-like aim and ‘wicked’ ball handling skills made him an attraction wherever he played.

Today, ‘Sports in 50’ salutes Lugard ‘the legend’ Mohan.
In 1994 behind captain Ulric Tappin, Guyana finished second in the-then CARICOM Basketball Championship to Jamaica, when the tournament was hosted at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.
It was Lugard’s first taste of ‘balling’ against players from the Caribbean region and the 22-year-old ‘fancy’ point guard from the Ravens Basketball Club was home-town favourite.
So good was his showing at the tournament that he was named on the CARICOM All-Star team – something not many players before or after him had accomplished as a rookie.
In fact, the tournament which is now known as the Caribbean Basketball Confederation (CBC) Championship had its origin in Guyana in 1981.
Mohan, unlike some of our players today, had to work to get into the team. Tappin, to many, was seen as the best player Guyana had ever produced and a young Lugard was always measured against some of the talented players before him.
At 19, he was among a squad of 28 called to trials for the 1991 CARICOM championship in Jamaica and although he failed to make the final 12, the experience gained later proved invaluable.
After the exodus of Ray Williams and Dave Trotman from Ravens the man running things was Neville Alert’s, protégé Lugard Mohan.
The following year 1992, Lugard was dominant at the point and shooting guard position for Ravens, leaving many in dismay when the selectors bypassed him for National selection against the touring TTL Bombery professional team from Germany.
July 1993 will always remain fresh in Lugard’s memory because he had a fantastic debut against Barbados at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.
The year 1994 Guyana hosted its third CARICOM Championship and this was the moment Lugard Mohan was waiting for. He was spectacular from the opening victory against Suriname but the performance that really took the Caribbean by storm was the way he mesmerised Trinidad and Tobago.
In both victories against the Twin Island Republic en route to the final, Lugard was the mastermind; he was the man setting up the elusive Steven Nurse.
Although he failed to reproduce the same form in the final that Barbados won handsomely, he was an automatic choice when the CARICOM All Star Team was selected. His biggest disappointment in 1994 was Guyana’s failure to attend the prestigious Centro American basketball championship they qualified for by placing second to Barbados.
His next CARICOM championship the following year, 1995, in the Bahamas remains fresh in his memory, not because he was selected to the CARICOM All Star team again, but because Guyana failed to win a single preliminary game and he was co-captain with Leon Christian.
In 1996, his first taste of National captaincy, he celebrated the appointment by sweeping DC Jammers 3-0 at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.
Guyana, playing under Lugard, won game one 99-85. The skipper led from the front with 20 points, game two Guyana won 115-96 and wrapped up the series 97-93, Lugard top-scoring with 23 points.
After conquering the lads from Washington DC, Guyana, with Lugard Mohan at the helm, deplaned at Piarco International Airport in search of the Land of Many Waters’ first CARICOM title.
The Mission was nicknamed ‘Search and Destroy’. The first casualty was Barbados. The boys from ‘Bimshire’ succumbed 84-78; the skipper top-scored with 22 pts. They followed up with the Mighty Bahamas who surrendered 86-104. Lugard and Wayne Bristol shared the top score with 17 points each.
Hosts Trinidad halted the Lugard show with a 111-88 victory, the skipper and Remington Ram top-scored for Guyana with 13 points each.
Jamaica, playing with former NBA Pros Rumeal Robinson and Andrew Kennedy, edged Guyana in a thriller 106-98, Captain Mohan top-scored with 19 points.
After the heartbreaking loss to Jamaica, Lugard’s men regrouped and outclassed St. Lucia 86-63, Dominica 86-73, but were edged in the semi-finals against Jamaica 100-97. Centre Lorenzo Withrite top-scored with 27 points and 7 rebounds, Wayne Bristol 23 pointts and Mohan 20 pointts, Rawlwyn Loncke 21 pointts and Remington Ram 18 pointts. Both skipper Mohan and centre Lorenzo Withrite aggregated over 100 points at the end of the 1996 championship.
In his next international series in charge, he led Guyana to a 3-0 sweep of Trinidad and Tobago, June 1997. Injuries prevented him from playing Guyana’s next series against Barbados.
Lugard returned to the National team the following year 1998 with a bang and led Guyana to a 4-0 thrashing of DC Jammers at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall, winning game one 90-81, Game two 100-86, game three 88-83 and the final game 89-83.
Now with 14 victories from 18 matches Lugard was touted as the man who will end Guyana’s Regional drought, but the National team were a no-show in Belize and this was probably Lugard’s saddest moment since he made his International debut in 1993.
The senior team played no International matches in 1999 so Lugard had to settle for Division one, Inter-ward and Inter-Sub Association action.
The next year (2000) Guyana returned to CARICOM Championship action and Lugard was the man wearing the captaincy armband.
Guyana loss in the semi-finals to the U.S. Virgin Islands 96-75, despite Lugard’s spectacular performance scoring 26 points, inclusive of six three-pointers from seven tries. In the third-place game he ensured Guyana brought home the bronze medal, top-scoring again with 26 points.
Unfortunately this was Lugard’s last outing at the CARICOM Championship level. He finished the (2000) Bridgetown showpiece with 103 points from six matches. In the process he became the only Guyanese player to aggregate over 100 points twice at the CARICOM level.
The 2000 CBC tournament was the last time Guyana finished in the top five of the championship and Mohan would later joined Cecil Chin as former National players who became FIBA Certified Referees.
Today, Mohan spends his time as an advocate for youth development, as part of the Youth Basketball Guyana.