KWAKWANI Secondary will battle President’s College (PC) in the final of the Youth Basketball Guyana (YBG)-organised National School Basketball Festival U-18 Boys competition, this Saturday evening at Cliff Anderson Sports Hall (CASH).

The Berbice River school has also booked places in the Boys’ U-14 finals and the Girls’ Developmental final. Those championship clashes are also billed for this Saturday from 17:30hrs.

In their semi-final clashes, last Sunday evening at CASH, Kwakwani Secondary and President’s College surged to emphatic victories over Berbice school teams – New Amsterdam Technical Institute (NATI) and Berbice High School (BHS) respectively.
Led by a double-double from small forward Richard Semple, PC registered a 46-31 point victory over BHS.

Semple, who pulled down 10 rebounds, scored 10 of his 12 points in the opening period to lead the winners to a 22-13 half-time lead.

Rakin McDonald also played well for PC to finish with 11 points and seven rebounds, while Gabriel Lim added eight points and seven rebounds and Jushaun Bayley seven points.
PC used their quick hands to undermine their opponents, since they were able to tally 12 steals compared to a single steal by BHS.

PC also out-rebounded their opponents 33-20, although Charles Williams finished with a game-high 11 rebounds and six points for the defeated side.
Rickford Blair led the BHS attack with 12 points, while Kezron Cort added nine points.

ALL-ROUND PERFORMANCE
Kwakwani surged to a 16-point victory (60-44) in their clash against NATI, due to their quick hands, passing and team scoring. Nine of the 11 Kwakwani players scored, while six of the NATI players got buckets.

Leading the winners was Rawle Sampson, who once again showed his range from deep, as he knocked down three shots from deep in a top score of 13 points. Elijah David added 12 points, Royon Shortt 11 points, nine boards and David Conway 10 points.

Berbice Regional winners NATI had a number of second shot opportunities as their players out-rebounded their opponents 51-35, and although Jermain King finished with a game-high 16 points (12 of which were scored in the opening period) and 10 rebounds. NATI were outgunned.

The only other NATI player in double digits was Gevon Schultz with 11 points and six rebounds. M. Durant added five points 13 rebounds and Jamal Chishom six points nine rebounds.
The Festival is sponsored by Edward B. Beharry and Company Ltd, National Sports Commission, Banks DIH, ExxonMobil and Bounty Ltd.