Brusches Basketball Foundation 7th U18 Club Classic starts tonight

The stage is set for this year’s 7th biennial Brusches Basketball Foundation Classic invitational nationwide tournament, which bounces off tonight (Saturday) at the Mackenzie Sports Club hard court in Linden.
This tournament is played every year, and is planned by the United States-based Brusches Basketball Foundation, which has three brothers who had represented Guyana at the senior level internationally: Mike, Clifton and James.
They have decided to give back to basketball in Guyana, and this is the seventh tournament.
At the launching of this tournament at the MSC Pavilion on Tuesday last, the organisers announced the fixture for the four-day tournament.
As was stated earlier, this year will be different, because the Brusches Basketball Foundation has shifted its focus to the under-18 players attending schools around Guyana.
The tournament gets underway this evening featuring Victory Valley Royals, stationed at Wismar in Linden, facing Georgetown club Pacesetters in the nightcap game from 21:00hrs, while the opening game is between Kwakwani Ballers and Rose Hall Jammers out of Berbice at 19:00hrs.
Another two matches are being played on Sunday. The first is between Pepsi Sonics out of Georgetown and Plaisance Guardians from the East Coast of Demerara. The second game will bring Wrangulars, representing Bartica, to face Junior Kings of Mackenzie, Linden at 21:00hrs.
Those preliminary rounds will allow the winners to advance to the semifinals, which are set for Friday November 1, and then the final is set for Saturday November 2 at the Mackenzie Sports Club hard court.
At the launch of this tournament, the Brusche made it clear that the prize monies for the top finishers are not for the players, but are to be used for any project the club sees fit to embark on, as the prizes for the players are the various individual trophies, replicas and medals only.
More than $600,000 has been dedicated to the staging of this tournament, which has Guyconstruct as its main sponsor.
The first placed team collects the winners’ trophy and replicas, with the $30,000 being for a project for the club; while the second-placed club will get medals and $20,000, also for a project for the club; and third-placed finishers would likewise receive medals plus $10,000, for a project for the club.
There will be giveaways for the spectators on the playing nights of the matches, the Brusches have said.