On Thursday, July 21, Game 1 of the Hattieville U25 Basketball Tournament best-of-2 championship series was played between teams Lights Out and HUYSC ( Hattieville United Youths Sporting Club). Notably absent from Team HUYSC was their MVP Michael “Shaka” Myvette. He missed both games due to a Camp in Toledo. Lights Out won a very close encounter, 50-46, behind 9 points and a season high 23 rebounds from Keeron Reyes, and 12 points 16 rebounds from Clive Reyes.
On Saturday at 6 o’clock, the fans were treated to three exciting competitions before the final game, and each winner received a cash prize contributed by the HUYSC. The evening started with a Skills Challenge. Ronnie Anderson from HUYSC won that event. Next up was the Female 3-point shooting, taken by Ms. Doraine Linares. The final event was a male 3-point shooting, and that was won by Jihad Ahmad from Team Hattieville Kings.
Game 2 of the Finals followed. It was a very exciting game, with HUYSC leading all the way until the final two minutes of the ball game. Serious foul trouble on centre Marcus Lewis (37 rebounds in the previous 2 games combined; 3 in this game) along with Shaka’s absence could have been the deciding factor that allowed Team Lights Out to take the game, 67- 58. With 3.3 seconds remaining in the game, however, a fan threw a bottle on the court. That caused a major eruption and near fight. Police were out there to cool things off, but the officials called off the game at that point and awarded the victory and the championship to Team Lights Out.
We are extremely sorry that the tournament could not have ended perfectly for the first time ever. High men for the winners were Keeron Reyes 12 points 15 boards, Clive Reyes 15 points 12 boards, and Welton Franklyn had a game high 19 points. Faisal Ahmad chipped in 12 points and 6 boards for the losers, while Ronnie Anderson and Kieton Dyer had 12 and 10, respectively. Clive Reyes was voted the tournament MVP. He averaged 12 points and 12.3 rebounds, the only player to average a double-double.
Thanks to BTL for contributing the jerseys; to GLHS and Principal Mrs. Lorna McKay for a set of jerseys as well; to James Brodie & Co. Ltd. and Luigi Zaldivar for the game ball and whistles; to Mr. Karim Juan and the Cayo Association of Basketball Officials for contributing the referee jerseys; to HUYSC for their cash prize for the challenges on Saturday; and to all players, teams, coaches, officials and fans who supported the program. (Some fans graded the program with an “A” grade.) The program was a big success for the community, and the Committee hopes to be back by God’s grace with a bigger, better and more organized program next year.
(Contributed)