By Rawle Toney

DEFENDING National Champions TGH Pacesetters defeated Eagles 86-69 to move into the ‘Super8’ of the Guyana Amateur Basketball Federation (GABF) Club Championship when action continued last Sunday at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall with a triple-header. It was also a bittersweet night for the teams from Linden, with the Victory Valley Royals winning 72-68 over Berbice Rockers and Ravens blowing away the Amelia’s Ward Falcons 83-52.
Playing in the opening game, Royals had to endure several threatening runs by the Rockers, who ended the first period leading by two points (15-13).
Nonetheless, Royals, behind a superb performance from guard Trevor Profitt, rallied to outscore the Berbice team 23-13 in the second period, to lead 38-28.
Interestingly, the Linden team went on a scoring slump, thanks to some stifling defence played by the Berbice unit, coupled with some sharp shooting from Michael Bowen (17 points) as the Rockers led 52-49 heading into the final stanza.
It was in the fourth quarter that Profitt, who finished the night with a game-high 21 points, 11 rebounds and five assists, took control of the game and along with Harold Adams (14 points, eight rebounds) and Ron Beckles (12 points, 10 rebounds), the Victory Valley Royals held their nerves to outscore the Rockers 26-16 in the period to move into the quarter-finals.
Bowen’s 17 points included four consecutive 3-pointers, including the one that saw the Rockers go up 68-65 in the fourth period.
Neil Wills (14 points, eight rebounds) and Denson Fraser (12 points, six rebounds and 10 assists) were the other top performers for the Berbicians.
Meanwhile, the Defending champions Trinity Grid Holding (TGH) Pacesetters were barely made to sweat in their lopsided 86-69 win over Eagles.
In an all-round team performance, coach Clement Brusch’s side were led by a game-high 16 points, seven rebounds and five assists performance from Junior National player Nathan Saul, while National point guard Travis Burnett netted 12 points, Randy Richardson 11 points, 15 rebounds, and Joslyn Crawford 10 points.
Travis Belgrave had a double-double, hitting 15 points and hauling in 12 rebounds while Kevin Wiggins and Mark Wills finished the evening with 14 and 10 points respectively.
The night’s final game saw inaugural champions Ravens, devour a hapless Amelia’s Ward Falcons by 31 points.
Dominic Vincente 19, Ryan Gullen 18 and a double-double from Ryan Stephney (15 points, 11 rebounds, five assists) was enough to see Ravens through to the next round.
For the Amelia’s Ward Falcons, Lawrence Simon led all scorers for his club with 13 points and 11 rebounds while Dale Sauers and Akeel Primo both had 11 points for the Lindeners.
The quarter-final gets on the way from Friday with a double-header.