ON Saturday evening, the Guyana Basketball Federation (GBF) tipped off the playoffs of the One Guyana Basketball Premier League, with the top 16 teams in the country seeking national glory.
Defending Champions North Ruimveldt Ravens opened their series with a win, when they clashed with Linden’s Retrieve Raiders in a best-of-three series.

Ravens won the opener, 88-55, with Atilla Williamson, Alroy Nurse, and Jude Corlette leading the charge for the champions.
Williamson had 12 points, with 10 for Nurse, and a game-high 15 for Corlette.

Kareem Roberts led Raiders with 8 buckets as they lost by 33 points.
Meanwhile, one of the Regular season top teams, Pacesetters, also claimed a 12-point win over Mambas in Game One of their three-match series.
It was a close contest for the first quarter of the game, as Mambas led by one point after the first quarter, 18-17.

Pacesetters would flip the script for the second quarter, leading 34-32 going into the break, as Troy David came good for his side.
After the half-time resumption, Pacesetters started to ramp up their offensive push with Tatawa Daly, Wilman Delgado playing some crucial minutes.
Pacesetters took a 13-point lead after a strong third-quarter showing, with David finishing with a game-high 18 points.
Delgado was right behind him with 17 points, with 11 from Daly as they battled to take the contest, 73-61.

On the losing end, Brandon Bento was superb for Mambas, with 18 points, 12 of which came from Jared Sears.
Also taking a win in their series opener was Kobras in their match with Block 22 Flames from the mining town.
Kobras took the encounter by 11 points 70-59.

The trio of Akil Hughes, Carlos Edwards, and Drexel Aaron proved the difference-makers for Kobras.
Block 22 Flames started off as the hot team, as, leading after the first quarter, 17-13, compliments of Kerone Joseph who had a game-high 21 points, showing early shooting form.
Kobras would step it up in the second period to pull within a point of Flames, 33-32.

Flames, however, had another gear, as Joseph combined with Jonathan Clarke with 10 points and Shawn Cameron with 12 extended their lead by four points, 48-44.
Kobras would put in a fine fourth-quarter exhibition of shooting to overtake the lead and eclipse Flames, 70-59, to take the lead in the three-game series.

The playoff sees the top 8 teams in the Jaguar and Harpy Eagles conference battling in the best-of-three series, with the winner of the two-conference battling for the One Guyana Premier Basketball League Title.