by Karim Juan
SAN IGNACIO TOWN, Cayo District, Sun. July 24, 2022
The playoffs for the Benque and San Ignacio/Santa Elena Tournament 2022 continued this past weekend at the Resilience Center at the Victor Galvez Stadium in San Ignacio Town.
In the Under 15 division, Benque Basketball Academy (#2) claimed their first victory of the season against Assassins Jr. (#1), and with the upset, they have forced a decisive game 3 this weekend.
In the Under 18 category, Love Soul Mambas swept the series to become champions, and they will be representing San Ignacio/Santa Elena at the National Tournament in Belize City.
In the Open Male division, Venom (#1) and Assassins (#2) also swept their series to advance to the finals, where both teams will battle in a best-of-three series starting on Friday. With the win, Assassins will be representing San Ignacio/Santa Elena at the National Tournament while Venom will be representing Benque Viejo del Carmen. Benque No-Hops are the third place winners in the Open Male division, given that Outdoors opted to not play the third place game.
In regards to this local tournament, the Under 15 and Under 18 divisions, the first and second place teams will receive a team trophy. For the Open Male division, the champions will receive a team trophy with $300, the 2nd place team will receive a team trophy with $250, and the third place team will get a team trophy with $150.
For the national tournament that will be held in Belize City, the Under 15 and Under 18 champions, each player on the team will receive a one-year scholarship, while in the male and female Open divisions, the champions will receive $10,000 and the second place team will receive $5,000. The local winners will do battle against the winners from the 9 other local tournaments.
Friday, July 22, results
(Under 18) (#1) Love Soul Mambas (2-0), 90-17, over #2 Snipers (0-2). Love Soul Mambas – Zoren Deceuninck 37 pts; Geon Vasquez 14 pts; Tayshawn “Pawdy” Haylock 8 pts. Snipers – Christian Baeza 7 pts; Floyd Gillett 5 pts.
(Open) (#1) Venom (2-0) won by default (20-0) over (#2) Benque No-Hops (0-2), who were a no-show for the game, giving Venom the victory.
Saturday, July 23, results
(Under 15) (#2) Benque Basketball Academy (1-1), 28-26, over (#1) Assassins Jr. (1-1). Benque Academy – Gevan Canelo 16 pts; Hua Qiang Zhao 10 pts. Assassins Jr. – Jeremy Carbajal 13 pts; Yonic “Skully” Crawford 6 pts.
(Open Male) (#2) Assassins (2-0), 77-62, over (#3) Outdoors (0-2). Alejandro Baptist 17 pts; Sheffan Hemmans 17 pts; Steven Wade 15 pts.
Upcoming Schedule
Below is the schedule for this coming weekend:
Friday, July 29, Victor Galvez Stadium, San Ignacio Town
8:00 p.m. – (Open) Venom (#1) vs Assassins (#2) – Championship Game # 1
Saturday, July 30, Victor Galvez Stadium, San Ignacio Town
7:00 p.m. – (U15) Assassins Jr. (#1) vs Benque Basketball Academy (#2)
8:00 p.m. – (Open) Venom (#1) vs Assassins (#2) – Championship Game #2
9:15 p.m. – Trophy & Cash Presentation – Under 15, Under 18 & Open
Friday, August 5, Victor Galvez Stadium, San Ignacio Town 8:00 p.m. – (Open) Venom (#1) vs Assassins (#2) – Game # 3 (if necessary