BASSETERRE St. Kitts, November 12th 2012 - Host country Dominica got off to a disappointing start in the Sugar Creole Basketball Tournament on Friday night, losing its first game to the St Kitts & Nevis National Team known as the Sugar Ballers in a thrilling overtime match-up.
The tournament, which started off a bit later than scheduled, did not disappoint the fans in terms of quality basketball. The evening started off with the team introductions followed by the national anthems of the respective countries after former president of Dominica Amateur Basketball Association Dave Baron gave a short welcome address.
The game began very slowly with both teams gagging each other for the first 5 minutes, until St. Kitts scored first. The first quarter ended with St. Kitts 13 pts to Dominica 10 pts.
Dominica, with a practically new team from the one which participated in the tournament in St Kitts last year, recovered by scoring 17 points to St Kitts 13 pts in the 2nd quarter, to end the half 27 pts to 26 pts.
The third and fourth quarters were no different with both teams exchanging leads and being very competitive. But with 1 minute remaining in regulation time and Dominica leading 55 pts to 53 pts, St kitts was able to penetrate the Dominica defense and tie the game 55 pts to 55 pts with 13 seconds left to play.
Dominica failed to capitalize on the time left to win the game as tight defense and a near steal from St. Kitts caused the ball to go out of bounds with 1.4 seconds remaining but Dominica made the ultimate blunder with a player dribbling out the time without taking a shot.
And so the game went into overtime with the scores even at 55 points.
During the overtime period Dominica fared no better with some early turnovers and poor play. St Kitts took the lead and never relinquished, finally winning the first game of the tournament with a score of 64 pts to Dominica’s 58 pts.
The Sugar Ballers continued their winning ways on Saturday evening when they dominated the Martnique National team . The Ballers led at the end of every quarter cruised to a comfortable 86-74 victory.
The SKN Team's final game will be versus the Domnica Under 23 basketball team which is expected to be another win for the Ballers.
The SKN Team's final game will be versus the Domnica Under 23 basketball team which is expected to be another win for the Ballers.
A victory tonight against the Dominica U23 Team will give the SKN Sugar Ballers the Sugar Creole Basketball Cup and cap the team's undefeated run.
The Top Performers for the game Dominica versus St.Kitts-Nevis game were:
Top performers: Dominica
• Garth Joseph – 15 pts, 11 Rbds , 6 Blks
• Neverson JnoBaptiste – 10 pts , 14 Rbds , 1 stl.
• Thomas Felix – 11 pts , 5 Stls
Top Performers: St Kitts
• Tamboura “Tambie’ Caines – 18 pts, 6 Rbds , 2Ast.
• Troy “Jazbu” Watlley – 8 pts , 4 Stls. 3 Rbds
• Nashom Maynard – 7 pts , 16 Rbds, 2 Stls. , 1 Blk
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