One Guyana Basketball League: Ravens, Nets, Trojans in winners’ circle

There were wins on the cards for the likes of North Ruimveldt Ravens, Meadowbrook Nets and the University of Guyana (UG) Trojans when the Guyana Basketball Federation’s One Guyana Basketball League continued at the National Gymnasium, Mandela Avenue on Saturday.
An overtime encounter saw Ravens prevailing by three points over Masters, 63-60. The North Ruimveldt- based outfit took a one-point lead, 9-8, after the first quarter, but had a seemingly better 10 minutes to follow, increasing their lead to 23-19 at half time.
Masters, however, had a stellar third quarter, piling on 13 points whilst working defensively to limit Ravens’ scoring. The third quarter finished 32-27 in Masters’ favour. As one would expect, the fourth quarter was an entertaining one as both teams worked to get ahead, but, in the end, the final buzzer went with the score locked on 53-53, forcing overtime.

In the added minutes, the likes of Ravens Captain Dominic Vincente kept their cool to lead the Ravens to a 10-7 win in overtime. Vincente led the scoresheets with 19 points while Nikkoloi Smith and Shamar Huntley netted 13 and 6 points respectively. Meanwhile, Sheldon Howell and Jason Squires shined for Masters with 12 and 10 points respectively.
Also in the winners’ circle on Saturday were the Meadowbrook Nets, who arrested the Guyana Defence Force 69-45.
Nets took an early 23-12 lead in the first segment and netted another 16 points in the second to end the first half with a 39-25 lead. The Nets kept their momentum going into the third quarter, reaching 54 points and ultimately scoring another 15 points, as compared to GDF’s seven in the fourth quarter for the 24-point win.

Richard Alexander led the charge for Nets with 17 points while Dennis Niles and Travis Stewart offered support with 13 points each. For the losers, R Griffith netted an impressive 20 points.
Another close encounter saw UG Trojans getting the better of Bounty Colts by five points. A close first quarter saw Colts holding the advantage 15-13, but the Trojans found their footing in the second, netting 20 points to get ahead 33-30 at the end of the second quarter.
The Trojans continued in similar stead with another 21 points in the third to soar to 54-49 while in the fourth quarter, both teams netted 25 points as the Trojans prevailed 79-74 over the Colts.
Jushawn Bailey was the marksman to watch, netting 19 points while Anton Fileen chipped in with 17 points. O’Quacey Short accumulated 17 points for the Colts.
The teams in the One Guyana Basketball League are competing for a $1,000,000 grand prize.