It was deja vu for Courts Pacesetters Basketball Club at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall Friday night after reaching its second consecutive nationwide first division basketball semi-final in the 2nd annual Next Level Entertain-ment (NLE) tournament.
The Georgetown number one seeded team extended its winning streak to nine wins in ten games in the last four months with a convincing 84-71 win over longtime rival and old friend, Bounty Colts in the feature game.
Shooting guard Stephon Gillis scored 15 points while forward Naylon Loncke ended with 13 and centre Horace Hodges had 12 points to lead Pacesetters past Colts in a perfect record against the team in the last 12 months.
Pacesetters defeated Colts in the Albert Bentick tournament and the Georgetown League tournament respectively last year.
Former Pacesetter, shooting guard Triston Lake scored 16 points for Colts while Dane Kendall and Oneiko Fraser scored 15 and 12 points respectively as the team romped out of the 2007 tournament.
The Georgetown top team had to complete the win without the services of lead guard, Stephon ‘Penny’ Henry owing to an injury Henry sustained late in the fourth quarter of the battle.
Chairman of the Courts team, Dennis Clark told Stabroek Sport yesterday that Henry would not be playing for six weeks because of a fractured knee. Clarke said that a replacement is likely but he declined to call any names.
“We should get to bring in a player, I have to speak with the promoters (NLE) about a replacement for Henry. We don’t want to say much but we will look and see what we can do about that situation,” Clarke said.
Henry’s return to Pacesetters for this tournament gave the team a much-needed edge in the point guard position with Henry’s speed, clean, accurate assists and high energy on the court in rushing the ball up court.
Clarke said that he is grateful for the assistance the promoters gave, especially Yannick Charles, in helping Henry get to the hospital Friday night and ensuring that the top guard got home.
Beepat’s Scorpions was the first team through to their first NLE semi-final Friday night with an 88-71 win over a Berbice combined team at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall in game one of the double- header.
Point guard Darren Gordon scored 17 points for Scorpions while Devon Bacchus, Carl Jackman and Trevor McCloud helped Scorpions set up a battle against Pacesetters in the semi-finals with 15, 14 and 10 points respectively.
Despite Berbice’s crushing defeat, Carlos Crandon can hold his head up high after equalling the 2007 tournament’s highest individual points when he scored 28 to help post a challenge for his team. Carl Fraser put in 17 points to aid Crandon.
Nets’ Fabian Johnson had scored 28 points to put his team past Maccabees last Tuesday. The Nets will need a similar performance from Johnson tonight in Linden when they come up against Victory Valley Royals at the McKenzie court.
The Nets team will make their second move toward a national title in the feature game while Kings play Wismar Pistons in an all- Linden affair in the other quarter-final game tonight.
