The youths of Linden Technical Institute (LTI) surged to yet another victory in order to be crowned the U-19 champs of Linden on Saturday.
Playing at the rain affected Mckenzie hard court, LTI faced off with McKenzie High School, who despite a few ups and downs in the competition, have proven to be a solid team. With promising players on both sides of the court, the match up turned out to be a close one, which had the fans on the edge of their seats.
LTI’s team captain, Jamal Gilkes, seemed a bit off of his usual amazing performances, netting 4 points. However, the young man’s rebounds and assists were in the double figures. In Gilkes falter, Dillon Pellew stepped up to the task and ended the game with 17 points to his name.
On the other hand, Yannick Tappin of McKenzie High led the charge for his team by scoring almost half of their score. When the final buzzer went off, it was LTI who came out victorious with a slim 39-37 victory.
Earlier in the day, a joint effort between Keyon Davidson (15 points) and Jonathan Copeland (14 points) saw Wisburg Secondary ‘blowing out’ New Silvercity secondary 43-24 in the third place playoff. Kobe Tappin was the lone man in double figures for the losing side with 14 points.
These results mean it will be Linden Technical Institute, McKenzie High and Wisburg Secondary who will be travelling to Georgetown to compete in the Youth Basketball Guyana’s National Basketball Festival.
Expectantly, with a total of 144 points in the tournament and an average of 24 points per game, LTI’s Jamal Gilkes walked away with the Most Valuable player of the tournament.
