Central Mackenzie versus Charlestown/Albouystown
TONIGHT happens to be game one of the lucrative Mackeson National Super Ward basketball championships between Linden’s pride Central Mackenzie and city stoppers Albouystown/Charlestown at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall. The two teams have more than thrilled and excited the hundreds who packed the premier indoor facility throughout the tournament with their exhilarating plays and breathtaking crunch-time finishing but all that is now a thing of the past, given the fact the moment of truth is here.
A lot has been said about the Charlestown side’s offensive firepower which gives them a slight advantage over their Linden counterpart.
Dwayne ‘Brown Sugar’ Roberts, Akeem ‘The Dream’ Kanhai, Rodwel ‘Kobe’ Fortune, Kevin ‘Two Feet’ Joseph and Niko Fraser, have all stood like the walls of Jericho around the city of Charlestown/Albouystown but, just as the Biblical story says, the walls came crumbling down after seven days of marching around by the Israelites.
Throughout the tournament we’ve seen that Central Mackenzie do not have much depth in their side. Steve Neils Jr, Marvin Hartman and Jason Alonzo are basically everything for the side from Linden but Charlestown of all the teams will know not to take them lightly.
The Linden side had convincingly beaten North Ruimveldt to earn their spot in the finals and an all-round team effort was shown. Their towering forward Neil Marks is yet to have a good game in the tournament and knowing him; he can show up any night and be a terror.
So, what’s my prediction? Well, I’m calling it in favour of Charlestown, but Linden will take game one tonight.
Why some might ask?
Charlestown keep getting slack on defence and they have shown in their last game that with Roberts, their inside is weak on offence. Also, the coach of the team is yet to realise that Joseph is a much more efficient point guard than Trevor McLeod who is the starting guard.
Stats would show that Joseph plays far less minutes than McLeod and ends up with more rounded stats at the end of the night. His teaming up with Fortune and Kanhai at the top of the arc has also caused serious trouble for all of the teams they have opposed so far, including Central Mackenzie whom they have defeated in the final game of the preliminary round of the tournament.
Central Mackenzie have been playing like they have nothing to lose and all to gain and their attitude has been picture perfect against more than formidable opponents.
Neils so far leads the points tally, netting over 20 points per game, while his sidekick Hartman seems to have now come to his normal marksman-like self.
The towering Alonzo is by far the tournament’s most feared centre according to the statistics because the packed Cliff Anderson Sports Hall saw Charlestown garbage player Travis Foster pulverise him with a put back dunk and try to take Alonzo’s scalp with a slam down the middle that just barely missed.
Regardless of how this is written or what is being said, tonight will certainly be what local basketball has been craving for over the past year.
Half a million dollars will go to the winners of the championship, an amount that matches the prize of the last Georgetown Inter-Ward tournament.