BELIZE CITY, Mon. May 29, 2023
The San Pedro Tiger Sharks surprised the Orange Walk Running Rebels, 77-73, on their homecourt at the Orange Walk Sports Auditorium on Saturday night in the first game of the Belize Elite Basketball League’s 2003 tournament playoffs.
The home team is the number one seed in the 2 best of three series, and the series second game will be played at San Pedro’s Angel Nunez Stadium next Saturday, June 3rd. If the Tiger Sharks, the playoffs fourth seeded team, win that game, they would advance to the championship finals.
The playoffs were delayed by a swirl of controversy as the BEBL 2023 tournament sputtered at times, with games being postponed and the resignation en masse of the Appeals Committee.
Due to a determination by the Commissioner, the Orange Walk Running Rebels finished the regular season as champions despite the fact that the Benny’s Belize Hurricanes had won more actual games. The Hurricanes lost a point when they did not play a postponed game with the San Pedro Tiger Sharks and it was declared forfeited.
Orange Walk had lost its first 3 games of the regular season, but rebounded with a six-game winning streak, and winning four of its last five games.
San Pedro has won 3 Belize semi-professional championships and has played for the crown five times. It played and lost 4 of its first 6 games on the road, but rebounded to win 6 of its last 8. It was also awarded 2 wins by forfeiture.
Saturday night they took the lead early, led most of the game, and despite 16 lead changes and 11 ties, held on for the win. They were led by 20 points from their captain and point guard, Francis “Ninety” Arana, and 16 points from Jihad Wright.
Orange Walk saw their leading scorer James Stanback suit up after rumors had swirled when he had returned to the US for several days before returning on Saturday for the game. But he only scored 5 points in almost 30 minutes of play, missing 8 attempts from the field and going 1-6 from the free throw line.
Bryan Hudson scored 23 points and got 14 from their Captain Tyrone Hall in the losing effort.
The Benny’s Belize Hurricanes will host the Griga Dream ballers on Friday night, June 2nd, at the Belize City Center, as the two and three seeds open their series. The teams split their regular season games, with each winning on their home court.