… Men’s team narrowly miss out on advancing

By Rawle Toney in Miami (Compliments of National Sports Commission & Guyana Lottery)

IT was a day of mixed results for Guyana at the inaugural FIBA AmeriCup 3X3 tournament in Miami, Florida.
Guyana’s male team came from Ryan Stephney, Tyron Hamid, Travis Burnett, and Timothy Thompson.

Spain-based professional Joy Brown, along with Jada Mohan and Kesann Charles were the country’s women in action.
The men and women representing the ‘592’ at the first-of-its- kind event turned in some impressive performances, but when the dust settled on the first day of the competition at Bayfront Park, it was the women who found more success.

Both teams opened the tournament with a sensational performance against Guatemala; the men’s side won 19-18 and the women’s were victorious 20-16.

However, the women, in a dramatic game against Jamaica went down 16-20 where they only had two players on court for much of the game, while the men were defeated 13-21 by Trinidad and Tobago.

As fate would have it though, Guatemala defeated Jamaica 19-13. That result propelled Guyana’s women to the top of Group C and saw them face Chile and Mexico in the Main Draw.

Against Chile, the visibly tired Guyana women lost 13-18. In their match-up with Mexico, Guyana went down 11-17.
Spain-based professional, Joy Brown, told NCN Sport, she was happy to represent Guyana for the first time.

“It really feels great putting on this uniform and representing my country – something that I wanted to do for a long time and I’m happy that I was given a chance to do so at this tournament,” Brown said.

Brown went on to shower her teammates with praises, telling Chronicle Sport, “The girls showed a lot of heart, and we were able to advance to the main draw, so I’m proud of the girls.”

Meanwhile, Travis Burnett, pointed out that despite the results, he was proud of the team’s performance.
Guatemala moved on to the next round, while Trinidad and Tobago joined Guyana on the sidelines for the remainder of the tournament.

According to FIBA, the event is being conducted in partnership with Vaunt Inc. Vaunt is, a sports and entertainment intellectual property (IP) developmental company that creates and produces alternative competitions and culturally relevant content.

Exciting, urban and innovative, 3X3 is inspired by several forms of streetball played worldwide and is considered the world’s number one urban team sport. Steered by FIBA, games see two teams of three players face off on a basketball half-court.