BELIZE CITY, Mon. June 19, 2023
The San Pedro Tiger Sharks announced today via a Facebook post that they will be hosting their Belize Elite Basketball League (BEBL) 2023 tournament’s first championship home game at the Belize City Civic Centre next Sunday, June 25th, tip-off scheduled for 3:30 p.m.
The Tiger Sharks lost the first game of the series at the Belize City Civic Centre, their opponents the Benny’s Belize Hurricanes’ home court, 86-64, last week Thursday night. The loss and the change of venue means that their chances of winning the series and the championship are diminished.
The Tiger Sharks were competitive through the first half of the game, and a late push would’ve perhaps gotten them the upset victory after the Hurricanes’ big combo guard Victor Evans was ejected late in the third quarter. Evans’ choice of language in complaining to the officials following a hard foul wasn’t considered acceptable, and the Sharks was able to cut a 15-point deficit to just 8 points at the start of the fourth quarter.
But then the improbable happened. A series of misses, miscues, turnovers and poor defence, mainly failure to even get back on defence, had the ‘Canes expanding their lead again when Ashton Edwards failed to offer even a token of a defensive gesture as Tyrie Orosco flew unimpeded to the basket for a dunk.
Edwards’ teammate Jamaal Clifton remonstrated with him and that soon led to a shoving match, and then punches being thrown, even as coaches, teammates and security separated the combatants. Edwards was thrown out of the game.
The next day, Tiger Sharks assistant coach Darren Bovell posted a statement on Facebook which declared in part that, “On behalf of Rico Black (head coach), myself and the San Pedro Tiger Sharks organization, we want to apologize for the embarrassing incident that occurred during our game last night against the Benny’s Hurricanes. It is unacceptable to have players fighting on the court in any instance. Against opponents or against themselves as it was in the case last night. It was an extremely poor representation of what our organization represents.”
He concluded that, “The player responsible for this incident was removed from the team.” And that was confirmed by head coach Rico Black in an interview with AMANDALA today.
Black also confirmed that the Angel Nunez Auditorium in San Pedro has been booked out, presumably for graduations, for the next 2 weekends and is not available for games.
The now shorthanded Tiger Sharks was led by Jihad Wright 18 points, Jamaal Clifton 18 points, and Kyle Stewart 15 points. Overall, though, the team shot a dismal 24-74 (32%) from the floor.
Ashton Edwards only recorded a single basket in his 6 minutes of action, and a turnover.
The Hurricanes were 29-71 from the field, including 7-17 from beyond the arc, with two timely 3-point shots from Jamall Harris (2-4 from trey), who, along with Sixth Man of the Year, Super sub Tyrie “The Harlem Kid’ Orosco, tallied 22 points.
Before tip-off, an emotional Alex “Father Prime Time” Carcamo was honored with a plague and a painting. He is retiring after 25 years as a professional basketball player. He finished with 9 points and a game high 13 rebounds.
The League is still considering having the Disciplinary Committee review the fight, but had not received an officials’ report or any protest or complaint from either team as of press time today.