(Cancelled and possibly postponed): Fri. Jan 27, 2023: San Pedro Tiger Sharks vs Belmopan Red Taigaz; Sat. Mar 25: San Pedro Tiger Sharks vs Benny’s Hurricanes (San Pedro High School)
Results and Schedule
Week 10: Fri. Apr 14: Belize Hurricanes 109, Orange Walk Running Rebels 80 (Belize City Civic Centre); Western Ballaz 77, Belize City Defenders 81 (SHC Auditorium).
Sat. Apr 15: San Pedro Tiger Sharks 83, Punta Gorda Panthers 51 (San Pedro High School); Griga Dream Ballers 92, Belmopan Red Taigaz 49 (Russell Chiste Garcia Auditorium).
Week 11: Fri. Apr 21: San Pedro Tiger Sharks vs Griga Dream Ballers (San Pedro High School) Belmopan Red Taigaz vs Orange Walk Running Rebels (UB Gym).
Sat. Apr 22: Western Ballaz vs Belize Hurricanes (SHC Auditorium); Belize City Defenders vs Punta Gorda Panthers (Belize City Civic Center).
BELIZE CITY, Mon. Apr. 17, 2023
The BEBL resumed tournament play last weekend after a two-week break and 3 teams got bludgeoned on the court. Friday night at the Belize Civic Centre was a very competitive game for a half between two of the tournament’s co-leaders, but turned into a 29-point blowout as host Benny’s Belize Hurricanes turned a one-point deficit into a 29-point victory at the final buzzer.
The only truly competitive game of the weekend played out in San Ignacio at the Sacred Heart auditorium where hosts Western Ballaz fought desperately to keep their chances of making the tournament’s 4-team playoff alive, but the visiting Belize City Defenders held on for an 81-77 much needed road victory.
Saturday night’s schedule were two blowouts, with the San Pedro Tiger Sharks mauling hapless Punta Gorda Panthers on the island, whilst the Griga Dream Ballers steamrolled the Belmopan Red Taigaz in the capital city.
Friday night’s loss snapped the Orange Walk Running Rebels’ 6-game winning streak. They had gotten going early with James Stanback, one of the BEBL’s leading scorers quickly racking up 13 of their first 15 points, but a combination of the Hurricanes’ aggressive double teaming and his teammates not looking out for him soon had him missing and turning the ball over. He would only score 2 more points off free throws for the rest of the game.
The Rebels led by as many as 8 points in the first quarter, when veteran Alex Carcamo came off the bench to direct the Hurricanes to several ties and a 1-point halftime deficit.
The host team came out the locker room blazing. Stanback would hit a free throw to tie the score, but the hosts ran off 13 points before their guest would score again. The Rebels could only muster 12 points in the quarter and the rout was on.
In San Ignacio, neither guest nor host could score for the first three and a half minutes of a tightly contested match. The first period ended 16-13 in favour of the visiting Defenders, a lead they had lost by halftime when they trailed by a point, 40-41.
They narrowed a hole of as much as 9-points as the Ballaz’ and BEBL’s new leading scorer Mark Gordon heated up to only 2 points, 56-58, at the end of the third, and then seized the lead and held on to win by 4 points, 81-77. Gordon would finish with a game high 28 points.
On Ambergris Caye Saturday night, the hapless Punta Gorda Panthers were without the former League leading scorer Tavian Davis, who had been called by the NBA G-League for a try-out and left Belize suddenly in the last week of the break.
The Panthers played gamely and led after one quarter, but trailed by 11 at halftime as the Tiger Sharks slowly shook off the effects of the 2 weeks layoff. The 55-39 score soon turned into a rout when the Panthers could only score 12 points in the fourth, 7 of which were from baskets made in the last 7 minutes when victory was out of reach.
Kyle Steward led San Pedro with the game high 33 points, while only 2 Panthers managed to record double figures, 10 and 12 points.
The Belmopan Red Taigaz was similarly without their leading scorer, Benjamin Page, and it showed early when they could only score 2 points in their game’s first 4 minutes against the visiting Griga Dream Ballers Saturday night at the UB auditorium. They trailed by 25, 31-6 at the end of one.
That deficit ballooned to 37 points (52-15) at half time, and 46 points (79-33) at the end of the third, before losing 92-49.
The young Belmopan squad hope to regroup before hosting the Running Rebels who lost the top spot in the standings, whilst Griga visits San Pedro where they are hoping to hold on to their just acquired spot as the tournament number one against a team desperate for victory and the opportunity to make the playoffs.