… Pacesetters make winning start

VICTORY Valley Royals won their second match to remain unbeaten in this year’s ‘Road to Mecca’ basketball Championships, while Ravens rebounded from their opening night upset and Pacesetters made a winning start in their journey to ‘Mecca’, when the tournament continued on Sunday night at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.

Playing in the opening game of the night’s triple-header at the Guyana Amateur Basketball Federation (GABAF) marquee tournament, Pacesetters 28 points (85-57) blowout-win over last year’s finalists Retrieve Raiders, while the Royals, behind Harold Adams, eased to a comfortable 77-55 win over newcomers Kobras.

On night one of the competition, Rose Hall Jammers, considered by many as ‘minnows’ of the National Club Championship, walked away with a shocking 64-60 win over Ravens. However, Darcel Harris, the team’s point-guard and centrepiece, regrouped his troops and returned on Sunday to romp to an 82-78 ‘statement-win’ over Amelia’s Ward Jets.
Harris scored 15 points in the win over the Jets and picked up five steals, while Ryan Stephney led all scorers with 30 points. Tyrone Hamid and Sebastian Luke both finished the night with ten points apiece.

For the Jets, Donnel Benjamin was the team’s best scorer with 20 points and Sean Muss had 14 points in the loss.
In the Pacesetters versus Raiders clash, forward Sherlon Legall had 24 points in leading the city team to victory over the Linden club who are coming off a horrible season in the LABA. Joslyn Crawford had 12 while Nathan Saul, a usual marksman, had a bad shooting night, only scoring 10 points from his 19 attempts to the basket.

Karem Roberts with 14 and Neil Marks, 11, were the top shooters for the Raiders.
Meanwhile, coming into the tournament Royals had ‘man-handled’ their counterparts in Linden during their run the Linden Amateur Basketball Association (LABA) and that run continued into the ‘Road to Mecca’ tournament, as the Victory Valley-based team crushed Georgetown’s second-best team, Plaisance Guardians, by 23 points (82-59).

The win over the Guardians was an eye-opener for the city clubs, and the Kobras, Georgetown basketball’s newcomers, would feel the wrath of Adams, who, this year, scored 111 points in a game during the LABA League – the most ever scored by a player locally in an organised game.
Adams had a game-high 22 points in the Royals’ victory in a game that had the Lindeners leading 41-32 at the halfway mark.

However, point guard Marlon Pollydore (7) and Yannick Tappin (16), joined Adams in helping the Royals to pull away from the Kobras, outscoring them 13-11 (54-43) at the end of the penultimate period, and 23-12 (77-55) in the final period.
Travis Burnett entertained the crowd in his 18 points, while Jermaine Slater contributed nine for the Kobras who would next play Plaisance Guardians on Friday.