Captain Vincente deems togetherness as key to GBF Elite Knockout champions

Nikolai Smith, who transferred from Plaisance Guardians to the North Ruimveldt Ravens for his first season, added to the team’s potent offensive attack with his incredible shooting accuracy as they won the Guyana Basketball Federation Elite 16 Knockout Basketball Tournament against Victory Valley Royals on Saturday at the National Gymnasium.
The destructive duo of Shamar Huntly and Dominic Vincente, with their cohesiveness, managed to give the Ravens a one-point advantage in the first quarter of the game. They set the tone for the game with the scoreline reading 15-14.
Smith, with his ability to flood the court with three-pointers, helped as they extended their lead in the second quarter to an astonishing nine-point advantage, going into the second half with the scoreboard reading 37-28.

The third quarter saw glimpses of class, but it was in the final quarter that the experienced Ryan Stepheney showed that age was just a number, bucketing several three-pointers for the Ravens as they cemented their position as the number one team in Guyana with the scoreline reading 75-53 for a 22-point victory.
With his ability to guide the Ravens’ offensive unit, Smith secured the Most Valuable Player of the tournament accolade for his impressive offensive attack.
The winning Captain, Dominic Vincente, speaking to media operatives, expounded that togetherness among the team was the key to dominance in basketball.

“The key is togetherness,” he said. “If we didn’t pull it out together, we wouldn’t have come out victorious. Because of certain things that happened within the game, we had to collectively come together, pull one goal which is to win, and we came out victorious. A lot of hard sprints, a lot of hard drills and so forth. So, that’s what contributed to our win. Because we had good togetherness in practice, that’s one of the keys that we held dearly and we came out victorious.“
He went on to list the improvements needed for the One Guyana Basketball set to commence on Friday.
Vincente said: “We just got to work defensively. Offence will come. We have the firepower to get us where we want to get. And no matter what, once we come together as a unit, we’ll come out victorious. Same effort, the same togetherness. Again, once we play as a unit, I don’t think nobody can beat us.”
The North Ruimveldt Ravens pocketed the winner’s purse of $300,000, while the Victory Valley Royals in second place earned $100,000. Stabroek Eagles secured $50,000, and the tournament’s MVP Nikolai Smith was awarded $25,000 for a standout performance.(Omar McKenzie)