… Turnovers cost locals

By Daniel Haynes
RIDING high on confidence from their buzzer-beater win on Sunday, the Guyana Male U-16 Caribbean Basketball Confederation Championship team came up against a hungry Suriname team on Monday night. It was this same Suriname side that lost to Jamaica in overtime on Sunday and were under pressure to not drop a second game. However, it was the Guyana team that failed to capitalise on the lead they had for three quarters of the ball game, losing to the vistors 64-56..
With a fair-sized crowd behind them, Guyana jumped out to a quick start in the game scoring 8 consecutive points to start the quarter.
Suriname, however, settled down and weathered the emotional storm to put up 8 points of their own. The locals then picked up on their defensive intensity, holding the visitors scoreless for 3 minutes. The quarter ended 16-12 in favour of Guyana.
The second quarter saw Guyana go on an 8-4 run courtesy of the energy of Andrew Johnson, who came off the bench. Too many turnovers allowed Suriname back into the game and inconsistent scoring saw the quarter finish 29-26 with Guyana up by 3. At the half Guyana had 20 turnovers as well as 15 missed free throws.
Guyana continued evenly scoring and trading buckets with Suriname. It was quick jumpshots that saw the lead being held up until 5 minutes left in the quarter. The cause of the lead slipping was three straight turnovers, which led to Suriname transition buckets.
Unable to keep the ball, the Guyana players became frustrated. This led to fouls being committed by Guyana which put the much better free-throw shooting Suriname team at the line. The quarter finished 45-40 with Suriname in the lead.
In the fourth quarter Suriname came alive, playing a level of basketball that was vastly superior to Guyana’s. The physicality of the game picked up and both teams were in the foul penalty for most of the quarter. As the quarter waned, the defensive breakdowns that had Guyana down in the first game against Aruba, showed up again.
Andrew Blijd was the point man for Suriname pouring in 8 of his 18 in this quarter. Due to the foul nature of the game, Guyana were put at the line, and in the stretch of free throw shooting, went 3 for 12 at the line.
It appeared as if only Nigel Bowen had been prepared to play for the local side with his 14-point effort.
One Guyanese player didn’t see any playing time and this was due to the fact that he hadn’t had as much practice with the team and didn’t know most players.
After the loss coach Willon Cameron stated that the mental toughness of the team let them down in addition to the poor free-throw shooting and turnover ratio.
According to coach Kenny Avent “Some of our players are learning on the job, this is their first major tournament and we have to remember that.” Kenny went on to say that it was going over game film and trying to get in more work before Guyana’s next game that would make the difference.
With 19 of 46 free throw shootings for the game, 38 turnovers and 7 assists, much work is needed to go forward and compete at the powerhouse level of the competition. Guyana are now 1-1 in their two games.