BELIZE CITY, Fri. Mar. 31, 2017

Belmopan Bandits moves into second place following 69-65 win over Dangriga Dream Ballers

With only three games left to play on their regular season schedule, the Belmopan Bandits sits all alone at second place in NEBL standings, thanks to a win at home last Saturday night against visiting Dangriga Dream Ballers, and a Western Ballaz loss at San Pedro Tiger Sharks.

The Bandits took care of business against the Western Ballaz, getting the 69-65 win to take a full game lead on them in the NEBL standings.

The Bandits took control in third quarter play of what was pretty much a very evenly played game up to that point, with the Ballers holding the slight 31-28 edge. But a 26-11 run over the final 8 minutes, engineered by the veterans of the club, Greg “Chippy” Rudon’s nine fourth-quarter points, Stephen Williams’ five fourth-quarter points, and Keith “Superman” Acosta’s four fourth-quarter points, was plenty to facilitate the visitors’ grabbing the 57-49 lead at a critical point in the game, which essentially propelled them to victory.

The veterans, Keith Acosta and Stephen Williams came out of retirement and returned to public life with a resounding bang, both having youthful performances, totaling 15 pts and 10 rebs apiece. Teammate Greg “Chippy” Rudon got into the action as well, totaling 14 pts 2 rebs 3 assts; while Robert Smith III was spectacular, contributing 14 pts 14 rebs.

Meanwhile, for the Dream Ballers, who now falls to (4-3) with five games to play, Dillmore Conorquie led the way with 15 pts 9 rebs 3 asst; however, he shot a poor 15% from the field, hitting only 2 of 13 shots in over 30 minutes on the court. Their big man in the middle, Tahj Wells was their only bright spot, as he secured another double-double, totaling 14 pts 15 rebs. Quinton Bowen continues to be mired in a slump, and for the second game in a row was held to 7 pts, this time on 3 of 10 shooting. As a team, the Ballers shot miserably, hitting only 22 of 86 shots, for a season-low 25% from the field. Rebounding was pretty even, with the Ballers holding the slight edge, 57-54.

With the win, the Bandits now stands at (6-3), with 3 games remaining. They could assure themselves a playoff berth with a win over the Orange Walk Running Rebels. That game was being played in Belmopan as we went to press last night. On the other hand, the Dream Ballers with the loss fell to (4-3), with five games remaining on their schedule. They obviously have their work cut out for them, and will have to win at minimum 3 of their remaining 5 games, and hope for help from other clubs. Team management certainly are hoping that they do not reach that point, and will understandably be pushing for their team to win out. That journey starts tonight as they take to the road against the Western Ballaz in a critical game.

Tiger Sharks wins back-to-back games over weekend

Houston Rockets, James Harden on getting rest during the season: “I’ll rest when I’m done.”

Back-to-back games – no problem for the Tiger Sharks. After soundly defeating the defending champions, Hurricanes in Belize City last Friday night, the San Pedro Tiger Sharks took a page out of NBA superstar James Harden’s game book as a motivational tool, when they took the court at San Pedro last Saturday night on the back end of back-to-back games, to do battle against the Cayo Western Ballaz.

“We’ll rest when we’re done,” was obviously the theme of the night, as the league’s leading scorer, San Pedro Tiger Sharks’ George Williams followed up his 27-points Friday night performance with 23 points 3 rebounds 4 assist in his teams’ league leading seventh win of the season, following an 87-76 win over the Western Ballaz. His teammate Douglas Valley contributed 18 pts 3 rebs 1 asst, while Kirk Burgess had 17 pts 9 rebs 3 asst, and Jamal Kelly had 15 pts in the win.

Richard Troyer of Western Ballaz continued his hot shooting for his club, totaling 22 pts 5 rebs; he was followed by Gene Myvett 13 pts 7 rebs 4 assts, and Daniel Nolberto 12 pts 4 rebs 3 asst. With the loss, the Ballaz now fall to (5-4) on the year, and currently sits in third place with three games remaining on their schedule. They obviously will need to win out at minimum two of their remaining three games, with one of those wins coming against the Orange Walk Running Rebels, to assure themselves post-season play.