BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THE St. Kitts and Nevis Amateur Basketball Association (SKNABA) season is in full swing, and Friday (Mar. 18) will see the 2nd Annual SKNABA Charles Morton Knockout Basketball Tournament bouncing off at Basketball City.
The knockout tournament which features 15 teams will be one of a number of precursor tournaments used by teams in each division to prepare for the league, which gets underway in April.
“It will also serve as the first of a series of events that will be organized by the association to give teams more opportunities to play in addition to using said tournaments to recognize the contributions of individuals to the sport of basketball in the Federation,” said SKNABA General Secretary Wallis Wilkin.
Following the recently held Annual General Meeting of the SKNABA Board and teams, Wilkin announced that the tournament would be staged for a second consecutive year.
Just like the first edition, this year teams will be vying for over $2,000 in cash and prizes, where defending champions St. Paul’s Tuff Knots will be looking to repeat their performance.
The one-night tournament will feature over 12 games being played at 10 minutes per matchup; however, the Finals will be a 20-minute game.
In the opening round of the competition, 14 teams will be paired and the winners of each match will progress to the second round and join the defending champions, the team that has a first round bye.
The draw for the second round will be made on site, while the winners of those matches will progress to the Semi-Finals then on to the Finals.
According to Wilkin, the winner would receive $1,000 while the losing finalist would walk away with $500.
He stated that the tournament is in recognition of former president of the association Charles Morton, whom he described as a long-standing member of the local basketball fraternity.
“He is also a former National Team Coach and Manager and led the legendary Gunners Basketball Club to SKABA titles back in the mid to late 80s.”
Morton still plays an integral role in the staging of the sport locally, recently serving in the capacity as Coach of the Nevis island basketball team.
Listed below are the participating teams and the first round match-ups:
• Hurricanes vs Cayon Lions
• Conaree Fireballs vs Sandy Point Falcons
• Sandy Point Pride vs Hitters
• Rockers X1 vs Runnerz
• Ghetto Roots vs Polstars
• Shottas vs Exodus
• Fig Tree vs JayHawks
