BELIZE CITY, Mon. Aug. 10, 2015–The Belize District Basketball Association (BDBA) wrapped up its Firms Basketball regular season this past weekend, and the knockout quarterfinals are set to take place on Friday and Saturday of this coming weekend at Birds Isle.
Three games were scheduled for last Friday night, August 7. In the opener, it was Infotel with the 55-43 win over a short-staffed Central Bank team, who had only 6 players seeing action, while Infotel used 9 players. Infotel was led by Stafford Young 16 pts 5 rebs, Jorret Jones 10 pts 11 rebs, Delroy Faber 8 pts 9 rebs, and Tyrone Anthony 9 pts; while Central Bank was led by Dave Apolonio 16 pts 6 rebs 5 assts, Farron Louriano 13 pts 15 rebs, and Cojac Smith 3 pts 18 rebs. For game 2, winless Ready Call Center forfeited to Digicell-4G. And in the exciting nightcap, a backmatch from June 13, BWS Pressure defeated Belikin, 67-63, in overtime. Unfortunately, according to secretary D. Lacey, “an errant basketball destroyed the laptop screen, and thus the LiveStats for that game;” so we have no individual stats to report.
The opener on Saturday, August 8, was another close encounter, but this time it was Heritage Bank edging BWS Pressure, 59-57, behind Winston Pratt 19 pts 12 rebs 3 assts, Kevin Lorenzo 9 pts 7 rebs 6 assts, and Steve Bonnel 6 pts 6 rebs; while BWS Pressure was led by Akeem Trapp 18 pts 5 rebs 6 assts 4 stls, Luis Barcelona 15 pts 7 rebs 4 stls, and Zhayne Morris 8 pts 6 rebs. In game 2, in a mild upset, Atlantic Bank dropped Bulldogs, 61-51. Top scorers for Atlantic Bank were Ian Lennon 16 pts 11 rebs 3 stls, Herman Ramos 16 pts 8 rebs 3 assts 4 stls, Justin Wade 13 pts 6 rebs, and Jermaine Tillett 8 pts 10 rebs; while Bulldogs were led by Marcel Orosco 13 pts 7 rebs 3 stls, Roscoe Rhys 11 pts 6 rebs, Rupert Brown 9 pts 3 rebs 3 assts, and Chris McGhann 8 pts 7 rebs. And in the nightcap, another nail biter, Central Health clipped Belikin, 78-75, with Steven Wade leading the way with 25 pts 5 rebs 10 assts, Travis Bernardez 19 pts 5 rebs, and Neil Nicholson 14 pts 4 rebs 4 assts; while for Belikin, Michael Staine had 20 pts 10 rebs, Kadeem Olivera 21 pts 4 rebs, Alejandro Baptist 15 pts 5 rebs, and Darren Neal 10 pts 4 rebs.
The final tournament ranking at the end of regular season were: #1 Heritage Bank (18 pts); #2 Belize Bank Bulldogs (17 pts); #3 Central Health (16 pts); #4 Central Bank (16 pts); #5 Atlantic Bank (16 pts); #6 Digicell 4G (16 pts); #7 BWS Pressure (15 pts); #8 Belikin (15 pts); #9 Infotel/Courts/Mars Distributers (15 pts); #10 Complex Generals (11 pts); and #11 Ready Call Center (9 pts).
Quarterfinals (Knockout) Schedule:
Friday, August 14
7:00 p.m. – (QF-A) #1 Heritage Bank vs #8 Belikin
8:30 p.m. – (QF-B) #2 Bulldogs vs #7 BWS Pressure
Saturday, August 15
7:00 p.m. – (QF-C) #3 Central Health vs #6 Digicell-4G
8:30 p.m. – (QF-D) #4 Central Bank vs #5 Atlantic Bank