GABA/Let’s Bet Sports 3-division Knockout Tournament
– Eagles finish third
By Timothy Jaikarran
The Guyana Amateur Basketball Association got the Under-23 Championships out of the way in just three days of play at the
Burnham Hard-court. It ended with the Pacesetters walking away with the title after an intense finale against the Plaisance Guardians.
Part of the third place battle between Eagles and Trojans
Supporters from Georgetown and Plaisance came out in their numbers to witness the action, and the match was entertaining from the first points.
Guardians are no strangers to the Pacesetters, having beaten them on more than one occasion, but there was something ‘off’ with the Guardians on this night of reckoning. For Pacesetters however, it was quite a different scenario, as they looked well poised heading into their first major match in 2019.
Pacesetters won the tip-off, but the Guardians shook off the nerves and played as a unit to finish the first half ahead, 19-17.
Maintaining their consistency in the second quarter, the Guardians again outscored the Pacesetters to lead 38-32 at the half.
What looked like a victory for the Plaisance side turned out to be the beginning of a comeback for the Pacesetters, as they dug deep and employed every tactic to force Guardians to play defensively.
Despite giving away a few baskets in the third quarter, Pacesetters still managed to take the lead at 50–58 heading into the final quarter.
Once the lead was achieved, Pacesetters kept the upper hand in the final quarter to eventually win the title by six points, with the final score reading 75-69.
Top scoring for the Pacesetters were Quing Dos Santos and Zion Gray, who both had 19 points, while Akinne Wilson chipped in with 14 points.
For the Guardians, Nigel Bowen top scored with 17 points and Jared Sears contributed 16.
Earlier in the night, the third place playoff saw the Eagles defeating UG Trojans by one point in a thriller that ended 76-75.
The see-saw match was a thriller throughout its duration, as neither side relented in their pursuit of victory and the lead kept steadily transferring between them.
But in the final 5.5 seconds of the game, the teams used their respective timeouts and consulted a revamped rule book. However, the matter was quickly resolved, and the Eagles sunk the last basket to take the game.
Eagles’ top scorers were Shamar Huntley (26) and Anthony Vanveen (14); while Trojans’ Denzel Ross and Kadeem Peterkin were able to score 20 and 19 respectively.
