BELIZE CITY, Thurs. July 15, 2004
If somebody had told you that the Belmopan Blue Devils ?got game,? and you hadn?t seen them in action, you would probably say, ?No, not ?Pan, they?re known for football, not basketball.? And then if you didn?t go to last night?s game, then it?s your loss, but you can and will get another opportunity to see Belmopan run when they return to the Civic Center on Friday, July 23rd, against BTL.
It all started Wednesday night at the Belize City Center with the Blue Devils attacking the basket and John Rhys hitting a ?J? for the game?s first points. The Kruzazz responded with Kirk ?Shabba? Smith hitting a short jumper for the game?s first of five ties. The ?Pan crew was growing in confidence, because Shabba was the only one tickling the twine in the first quarter for the Kruzazz. While, Belmopan?s first quarter points were coming from a three-pronged attack featuring John Rhys, Christian Rodriguez and Claude ?Too Tall? Jones. Former Raider forward Aubrey Lopez wasn?t doing much except for serving up assists. (Without a doubt, the highlight of the first quarter was Denzil ?D.C.? Castillo?s rejection of Andrew ?Jewboy? Robateau?s shot with 39 seconds left in the period.) The quarter ended in favor of the visiting Blue Devils, 23?20.
Kirk Smith returned to the floor in the 2nd quarter to be welcomed by D.C. Castillo, who was in for Too Tall. D.C. takes out the swat and mails it back to Shabba, not in my neighborhood. The Kruzzaz went on to turn over the ball on three straight possessions and the Blue Devils seized the opportunity to turn up the heat, with John Rhys hitting two big treys to take a nine-point lead at 29?20 early in the second quarter.
Kirk Smith learns not to go into Denzil Castillo?s neighborhood and drains a long two at the seven minute mark for the Kruzazz? first basket of the second quarter, and then hit a long three off the glass for a 5-point switch. But the Blue Devils? Dwight Peyrefitte responds with his own three. With 5:10 left, Andrew Robateau forgets about D.C. and drove down the middle only to be rejected again. Jewboy, like Shabba, refuses to go back into Castillo?s and with the shot clock winding down with 2 ticks left, drains a 17-footer at the 2:43 mark, pulling his team to within four at 36?32.
Towards the end of the second quarter both teams started trading points and abandoned their original game plan, starting to run and gun with no set patterns, which was more to the Kruzazz? advantage. The Kruzazz were able to go to the post more often than in the first quarter, and get back into the ball game after being down 11 points. They rallied to end the half down just four to the Blue Devils at 42?38.
The third quarter started off where they had left off in the second, running and gunning. Christian Rodriguez came out steaming, hitting back to back threes which may have caused him to get confident and forget about playing defense. Rodriguez picked up his third foul and had to go to the bench.
In the third quarter both teams intensified their defense with DC and Too Tall holding it down low. With 4:33 remaining in the third, Too Tall takes a page out of Denzil Castillo?s swat manual and swatted one away that went straight to John Rhys, who ran it up the court on a breakaway and was fouled by Steven ?Muerte? Williams. Rhys converts one of two to make it 52?51 Blue Devils.
In a matter of ten seconds John Rhys hits a 3 pointer with 10.3 left in the third and puts the visitors up, 61-55, but the veteran, Kirk Shabba Smith, gets digs deep and gets it back on a three of his own to pull the score to 61?58 with six-tenths of a second left in the third.
The fourth quarter starts with Christian Rodriguez coming in on a substitution and immediately picking up his 4th foul to send him back to a familiar spot, on the bench. But that didn?t stop the Blue Devils from turning it up a notch, with 8:13 left on the game clock. Aubrey Lopez snatched a rebound, leading the breakaway. Lopez drove down the lane and served up a no look pass to DC Castillo, who wrecked it big time. Marlon Gillett comes alive and goes six straight for the Kruzzaz who eventually take the lead at the 3:34 mark in a game where they trailed almost the entire night.
Gillett was again running loose, getting a breakaway pass with a little under three minutes left in the game. He took it straight to the hole for a dunk, but missed and had to leave the game with muscle cramps in his calves.
By that time, Blue Devils were forced to play stop the clock since Carlisle Barrow had fouled out, Too Tall Jones was grimacing in pain with what appeared to be an injury to his upper right thigh and both Christian Rodriguez and Aubrey were in deep foul trouble with four fouls apiece.
Leon Biggs Williams, who had been virtually quiet in the second half, puts the game away when he drains an eight footer with three seconds left on the shot clock. Kruzzaz win their first game 81 ? 76.
Who said Kirk ?Shabba? is too old to be running? Shabba was doing big things. He came up with big numbers last night, throwing up the rock for a game high 26 points, 24 rebounds, 3 assists, 4 blocked shots and no turnovers. Marlon Gillett got 16 points; Leon ?Biggs? Williams contributed 12 points and 10 rebounds for a double-double night and Steven ?Muerte? Williams had 12 points and 6 rebounds.
For the Belmopan Blue Devils, John Rhys had a team high 20 points, 3 assists and 4 rebounds. Christian Rodriguez got 16 points, going 4 for 4 from beyond the trey point line. Aubrey Lopez was more into serving assists: he had a game high 6 assists and also went for a double-double night with 11 points and 11 rebounds. Claude ?Too Tall? Jones had a dime?s worth – 10 points. Denzil ?DC? Castillo got 6 points and was a one man swat team with his 5 blocked shots. He did end up with the game?s high in turnovers with 5.
The BBA?s ?Summer Heat? moves to Corozal?s Andres Campos, Friday, July 16th, 2004 where the Corozal Dolphins will tryt o get their first win. They host the league leading and still undefeated BTL Nets.