THE country’s top ‘ballers’ didn’t fail to excite basketball fans on the opening night of the inaugural Rawle Toney/Mackeson 3X3 Basketball Classic.

The two-day basketball tournament bounced off on Saturday evening at the Burnham Basketball Court, where the winner of the event, which wrapped up last evening, will pocket $300,000, compliments of Ansa McAl under their Mackeson brand.

Fourteen teams started the competition and it was evident that the ‘Fire Spot’ (four-point) was the favourite of the night, since the players pocketed $1000 for each shot made from the distance, compliments of FireSide Grill.

A total of 18 matches were played on Saturday, as Pitbull 3.0 battled the Flamethrowers in the night’s first game.

Pitbulls asserted their dominance, extinguishing the flames of the Flame Throwers to defeat them 16-07. The next game saw the Plaisance Ballers losing to the Dark Knights 10-11 as the game came down to the wire.

Match three saw Top Ballers chasing out the Invaders 16-12, as the Invaders could not live up to their expectations.

Continuing round one action, Sleepers unleashed a thrashing on GT Ballers 21-0 to be one of the most standout teams of the night as they kept their opponents at bay for the entire match.

Culminating round 1, Ion Know edged Unstoppables 15-14 as play came down to the last second.

In round two, Smooth took on Savants, and, as the name suggests, Smooth were literally too smooth for their opponents as they decimated them 21-07 to leave them in shock. Pitbulls 3.0 struggled in their next encounter against Top Ballers, however, they managed to defeat the ballers 07-06.

Plaisance Ballers then returned in their second encounter and bounced back as they handed the GT Ballers a whopping 21-0 defeat.

Ion Know then defeated Invaders 13-10 to register their second win of the night. Sleepers then showed why they were the powerhouses of the competition when they beat Savant 24-10.

Unstoppables then put out the flame of the Flame Throwers, handing them their second defeat 21-09. Smooth then took out Dark knight 12-6 to end round 2 of the night.

Commencing round three, Pitbull 3.0 cashed in on their third win of the night when they defeated Invaders 21-07, while in the second match, Plaisance Ballers made light work of Savants 21-15.

Unstoppables then scraped a win over Top Ballers 12-11 and Ion Know won 20-15. Smooth then maintained their perfect record when they put the Sleepers to sleep 12-10 to cause a major upset that left the fans shocked, while Dark Knights won the final match via walkover.