Eight high school basketball teams, 4 female and 4 male, representing the 4 zones of the country, converged at the Sacred Heart College Multi-Purpose Building in San Ignacio on Friday and Saturday, December 13-14, to participate in the National Secondary Schools Sports Association (NSSSA) National Basketball Championships 2013-2014.
Participating high schools were:
NORTH – females of Orange Walk Technical High School (OWTH) and males of San Pedro High School (SPHS).
CENTRAL – females of Wesley College (WES) and males of Anglican Cathedral College (ACC).
WEST – females of Belmopan Comprehensive High School (BCS) and males of Sacred Heart College (SHC).
SOUTH – females of Delille Academy (DA) and males of Julian Cho Technical High School (JCTH).
The tournament followed a simple knockout format, with the 4 losers from Friday playing in the 3rd place games on Saturday, while Friday’s winners met in the championship games on Saturday.
In game 1 on Friday, the females of Wesley defeated Orange Walk Technical, 25-15, with Shanice Humes and Shanice Neal scoring 9 pts each for Wesley, while Zhanine Morey had 10 pts for Orange Walk. Game 2 saw ACC males crushing San Pedro High, 51-32, behind Francis Arana 15 pts and Keylon Evans 10 pts, while San Pedro was led by Oswin Arana 10 pts and Charles Hinks 7 pts. In game 3, the females of Delille Academy demolished Belmopan Comprehensive, 35-11, with Shanaya Caliz netting 18 pts and Kayla Robateau 5 pts for Delille, while B. Gillett and C. Kalu each had 4 pts for “Compre.” Game 4 was another one-sided affair, as the males of Sacred Heart College cruised to a 65-49 win over Julian Cho Tech. Top scorers for Sacred Heart were Jamie Carbajal 24 pts and Raheem Crawford 12 pts, while Julian Cho Tech was led by E. Lambey 25 pts and F. Valencia 12 pts.
Saturday’s 3rd place and championship games were more competitive. In the female 3rd place game, it was Orange Walk Technical, 26-22, over Belmopan Comprehensive, with Zhanine Morey scoring 8 pts for OWT, while A. Gongora had 11 pts for BCS. The male 3rd place game went “down to the wire,” with San Pedro High pulling out the 60-59 win over Julian Cho Tech. For San Pedro, Oswin Arana had 23 pts and Charles Hinks 16 pts, while Julian Cho was led by E. Lambey 25 pts and F. Valencia 11 pts.
In the female championship game, Wesley College prevailed, 16-7, over Delille Academy, with Shanice Humes leading Wesley with 8 pts, while Shanaya Caliz had 5 pts for Delille.
And in the male championship game, it was another “nail biter,” as the home team, Sacred Heart College won by a single point, 63-62, over Anglican Cathedral College. High scorers for Sacred Heart College were Jamie Carbajal 18 pts and Raheem Crawford 16 pts, while ACC was led by Keylon Evans 17 pts and Douglas Valley 14 pts.
Wesley College females and Sacred Heart College males are therefore NSSSA Basketball Champions 2013-2014.
Selected as Female MVP was Shanice Humes of Wesley College; and Male MVP was Jamie Carbajal of Sacred Heart College.
The tournament was dedicated to the memory of Arthur Melvin Butler (deceased), who was an NSSSA Executive member for eight (8) years.