Carolina is inaugural “One Guyana” 3×3 Quest champions
…Puerto Rico’s Ralat grateful for win
Four tickets to Edmonton, Canada for the FIBA World Tour went the way of Carolina out of Puerto Rico on Sunday night when the “One Guyana” 3×3 Tournament came to a close at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall (CASH), Homestretch Avenue.
The final game saw Carolina defeating the Dominican Republic’s Distrito Nacional 21-15, with the Dominican side playing with one athlete short due to injury.
Carolina’s Antonio Ralat reflected on their win, sharing what the accomplishment means to his team.
“Like I said before, we got a lot of talent here, we played a lot of tough teams. Obviously, we played against a great team, Dominican Republic, they’re our brothers in rivalry. So, it was a really tough competition, but thank God we had the victory,” Ralat told Guyana Times Sport.
Carolina’s Bryan Gonzalez Colon takes a photo opportunity with his MVP award
He continued, “Every game for us, we want to play hard, as hard as we can with passion and win every game, so every game we treated the same.”
“It’s super big. I’ve been in the World Tour before; these three guys haven’t been in the World Tour, so it’s a really good competition, a really good level to get there and I’m really proud of our guys, we did a good job,” Ralat shared on what the win means to him and teammates.
On the other hand, Distrito Nacional’s Sadiel Rojas expressed his contentment with their performance in the final, despite being a player down.
Rojas shared, “The final game, it was pretty much, I think, about stamina. We only had three people against one of the top teams in the world. All I can ask from me and all my guys is to go out there and fight and give it our all. That’s what we did, we arrive to the final with three players, we fought and we lost by six points. So, I’m happy for my guys, we’ll look to get our guy healthy and keep battling.”
Another look at the final action in the “One Guyana” 3×3 Quest
“The strategy was not to let them shoot three’s but Puerto Rico being one of the best three-point shooting teams, they hit a couple of tough contested three and it kind of hurt. If we wouldn’t have let them shoot threes, if they had to pay against us with not as many threes made, we would’ve had a chance ‘cause we’re bigger than them, we could attack them, damage them on the boards and the attack,” the Distrito Nacional player went on to opine.
Earlier on Sunday, Carolina got the better of Guatemala’s PSN 21-10 in the quarterfinals while Switzerland’s Lausanne got past USA’s NY Soundview 21-18.
The last of the Guyanese teams in the competition, Renegades suffered a 21-14 loss at the hands of Trinidad and Tobago’s Maloney Pacers in that round and Distrito Nacional downed SKN Sugar Boyz in the last fixture.
In the semi-finals, Carolina again won their encounter with Maloney Pacers 21-15 while Distrito Nacional had booked their spot in the final with a 21-15 win over Lausanne.
As such, Carolina secured the US$5000 grand prize and a spot in the World tour while Distrito Nacional had to settle for a US$2000 cash prize.
Carolina’s Bryan Gonzalez Colon was adjudged the tournament’s Most Valuable Player (MVP)
“The strategy was not to let them shoot three’s but Puerto Rico being one of the best three-point shooting teams, they hit a couple of tough contested three and it kind of hurt. If we wouldn’t have let them shoot threes, if they had to pay against us with not as many threes made, we would’ve had a chance ‘cause we’re bigger than them, we could attack them, damage them on the boards and the attack,” the Distrito Nacional player went on to opine.
