BELIZE CITY, Mon. June 26, 2023
The San Pedro Tiger Sharks, shorthanded from suspensions and playing on their opponent’s home court, shocked the Benny’s Belize Hurricanes, 66-61, in the second game of the Belize Elite Basketball League (BEBL) 2023 tournament’s championship final series yesterday afternoon at the Belize City Civic Centre.
It was their first victory in 3 tries, all at the Belize City Civic Centre, including the loss 10 days ago of the first game in the 3 best of 5 championship series. The game was also the only semi-professional basketball tournament game played on a Sunday afternoon in almost 3 decades.
2 San Pedro players were suspended for 2 games by the BEBL Disciplinary Committee following an altercation in the closing minutes of the first game. One of them, Jamaal Clifton is the Tiger Sharks leading rebounder and shot blocker.
The Hurricanes dressed their full squad, though power forward Kris Frazier appeared to be gimpy.
A close first quarter ended in a 17-17 tie. An 8-point scoring run midway through the second quarter gave the Sharks a 38-29 lead at halftime.
The Hurricanes roared back in the third quarter with a 14-point run to lead by 3, 52-49 at the start of the fourth quarter. But they could only score 11 points in the stretch run of the penultimate minutes of the game and fell, 66-61.
The statistics show that both teams shot poorly in a highly defensive game, which was delayed for nearly half an hour while the stadium crew adjusted a basket stanchion, 35.1% and 37.5%, respectively, from the field for the winner and the loser.
Both shot appallingly poorly from beyond the arc, with the Hurricanes recording a season low 5.9% after making only 1 of 17 three-point attempts.
The Sharks did shoot a bit better, connecting on 3 of 19 three-point attempts. And though the ‘Canes outrebounded the Sharks, 52-47, they took 21 fewer shots and made 6 less.
The Sharks had more points in the paint, more offensive rebounds and 20 huge second chance points against an opponent that was significantly taller 2 through 5.
Although the Hurricanes were called for fewer fouls and went to the line more, 37-21, they only converted 18, less than 50% of their freebies.
Victor Evans (13 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 steals) led the Hurricanes, and was the only one of their players to reach double digits in scoring.
Center Jamaal Harris had 9 points, while Kirk Smith and Tyrie Orosco had 7 apiece.
The victors got 19 points from Kyle Stewart, 13 points each from Jihad Wright and Keith Pollard. Captain and point guard Francis “Ninety” Arana had 6 turnovers under continuous defensive pressure, but still put up 9 points, including a highlight reel put back, to go with 7 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 steals.
2 Sharks fouled out, including rookie Matt Gordon who, despite not scoring a point, was applauded by his coaches and teammates for his stout defence. Two others finished the game with 4 fouls.
The crucial Game 3 is scheduled for Friday night, June 30, at the Belize City Civic Centre starting at 9:00 p.m.
In a post on his social media page following the game, San Pedro Tiger Sharks assistant coach Darren Bovell credited his undermanned squad saying: “All I will say it was a team effort. We had 9 guys that did their part and played their hearts out.”
Hurricanes’ most experienced player, Alex Carcamo, who announced his retirement at the start of the championships, was blunt in his assessment in his social media autopsy: “Game 2 Sharks won, 66-61, series tied 1-1 but let’s not stop there we shot 37% missing layups, wait it gets better 1-17 that’s 5.9% from the 3point line – you think it stopped there nope missed 18 free throws and 24 turnovers, best part of all this it was at our house – I wonder why Hurricanes!!!!
“THE BASKETBALLS GODS ARE REAL !!!
“We wanna blame the refs, some think we lost on purpose. Nope we got beat period point blank.”