Charlestown, Nevis -The planned 6.30 pm start on the evening of Saturday 6th November, was not realized until about an hour later but Basketball fans at the Church Ground Hard Court generally felt that it was worth the wait.
The fourth annual Malcolm Guishard Basketball league sponsored by the Hon Mark Brantley got on the way with an opening prayer and brief remarks by chief organizer, Wanda Parry.
This was followed by remarks given by the sponsor’s representative, Mr. Colin Tyrell. He expressed gratitude for the sponsorship offered by the Hon Mark Brantley and asked the players to abide by the rules and be guided by the instructions of the referees. He hinted at a posible dynasty being established in the league with the CG Rebels having won the three previous years. He challenged the other teams to step up to the plate and dethrone the long standing champions.
The Hon Hensley Daniel, Minister of Sports delivered a very upbeat address. He implored the Basketballers to allow sports to be an avenue away from anti social behaviour. “Do all of your shooting here on the basketball court”, he declared. “Let the Basketball court be the place where you do all of your offence and defence”, he stated emphatically.
He was high in praise for chief organizer, Wanda Parry and he saluted the recent exploits of the current champions of the league, the CG Rebels who had made it into the finals of the 2010 SKABA premier division and competed well.
He then officially declared the league open with the words that ‘the best team will win’.
Immediately after the opening ceremony, two matches were played and the sizeable crowd was greatly entertained. In match one, home favourites, the Mark Brantley Church Ground Massives engaged the Vance Amory Ghetto Starz. The final score line was 42-36 in favour of the Vance Amory Ghetto Starz.
For the Gingerland based team, Ghetto Starz, Mathew Harding had 15 points; 4 rebounds; 2 assists; Trevor Arthurton 6 points; 10 rebounds; 2 assists; Jeffrey Lewis 7 points; 2 rebounds; 1 assist.
For the Church Ground team, Warren Bussue had 11 points; 9 rebounds; 1 assist; Kirthney Esdaille 11 points; 8 rebounds; 1 assist; O.Jones 6 points and 7 rebounds.
Game two was a ‘blow out’ of sorts as Beyond Homes Projects refused to take any electricity from Water Sports High Voltage and totally diffused their charge with a score line of 77 to 28.
For the Projects team, Everson Webbe scored 29 points; 14 rebounds; 4 assists; Vance Allen 26 points; 4 rebounds; 3 assists; Carvin Smith 11 points; 2 rebounds; 4 assists.
For High Voltage, Staret France 10 points; 4 rebounds; 1 assist; Keston Herbert 6 points; 7 rebounds; Greville Forrester 4 points; 7 rebounds and 1 assist.
The matches scheduled for last evening were rained out and have been rescheduled to this evening, starting at 6.30 pm:
Leon Dash CSS Black Mambas versus Craddock Road
Leon Dash GSS versus Joseph Parry CG Rebels
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