It was a do-or-die weekend in the 2010 DIGICELL’s “ballin-4-life” basketball tournament at the Belize Civic Center, as both juniors and seniors engaged in knockout semifinals, with the winners advancing to the best-of-3 championship finals, beginning on Wednesday night, July 28.
The senior semifinal match-up between Belize Bank Bulldogs and UB Black Jaguars on Friday night, July 23, was preceded by a friendly match between the Belize National U-15 Team and the Truckers junior team. The U-15 showed they have a lot talent and a lot of heart, but were nevertheless overpowered by the bigger boys of Truckers, who won by a 14-point margin. No one was hurt, and the U-15 travelled on Sunday to Guatemala for the COCABA U-15 tournament under head coach Matthew Smiling.
The big senior match-up was close in the early going, but UB Black Jaguars pulled away in the second half to win, 86-69. For the winners, Winston “Air Jun” Pratt led all scorers with 23 pts along with 4 assts 3 rebs; Stephen “Muerte” Williams added 19 pts 3 rebs and Leroy Loriano 14 pts 3 stls. The losing Bulldogs were led by Darwin “Puppy” Leslie with 20 pts 4 assts 5 rebs and Rupert Brown 16 pts 4 assts.
The two junior semifinals were played on Sunday, before the next senior semifinal clash.
The junior semifinal game 1 was a blowout, as Orange Walk Runnin Rebels doubled Truckers, 82-41, behind balanced scoring from five players, including Jamal Harris 12 pts 8 rebs, Omar Tesecum 12 pts 8 rebs, Randy Usher 10 pts 5 assts, Michael Martinez 10 pts 4 rebs and Roger Reneau 10 pts. For the losing Truckers, Kadeem Tam had 12 pts 3 rebs and Steven Smith 10 pts 5 rebs.
The other junior semifinal was more competitive, but in the end it was the Belize Bank Junior Bulldogs with the 63-56 victory over Hold-On SMART. Leading the Bulldogs were Kachief Thomas 24 pts 3 stls, Luis Barcelona 12 pts 3 blks 8 rebs and Matthew Young 11 pts and 16 rebs. The losing SMART had Elvis Olivera 13 pts 9 rebs and Jamaal Kelly 12 pts.
The last Sunday game was the senior semifinal game 2, featuring San Pedro Tigersharks going against the Belmopan ‘Bandits’, and it was the ‘Bandits’ emerging 78-72 winners. ‘Bandits’ were led by Dorian Jones 21 pts 8 rebs, Mark Wagner 14 pts 6 assts, Isani Enriquez 13 pts 7 rebs and Kirk Burgess 13 pts 15 rebs. Gene Myvett, who missed the Centrobasket tournament with a hairline fracture on his ankle, returned to action for the Tigersharks, contributing 9 pts 6 assts 11 rebs, but it wasn’t enough. Other notable Tigershark contributors were Ivan Jackson 24 pts 6 rebs, Lester Cadle 13 pts 5 rebs, Stretch Marcellus 11 pts 12 rebs and Damion Staples 17 rebs 2 blks.
Game 1 of the finals in both the juniors and the seniors comes up this Wednesday. Game 2 is Friday night; and a game 3, if necessary, takes place on Sunday.
Wednesday, July 28
7:00 p.m. – (Finals Jr#1) OW Runnin Rebels vs Belize Bank Bulldogs
8:30 p.m. – (Finals Sr#1) UB Black Jaguars vs Belmopan ‘Bandits’
Friday, July 30 – (Finals Jr#2) and (Finals Sr#2)
Sunday, August 1 – (Finals Jr#3, if needed) and (Finals Sr#3, if needed)