Stage set for GSSBA ‘March Madness,’ Linden semi-finals begin today

After concluding its inaugural basketball season which included the participation of more than 30 schools in Georgetown and Linden, the Guyana Secondary School Basketball Association (GSSBA) is set to begin its ‘March Madness’ playoff round.

The eight teams that will be competing in these playoffs are Linden Technical Institute (LTI), Mackenzie High School, New Silver City School and Wismar Christianburg Multilateral from the Linden conference while Cummings Lodge Secondary, Central High School, St John’s College and Queen’s College have advanced from the Georgetown conference.

Those eight teams have the best records in their individual conferences and have been seeded on the basis of their standings.

In the Linden conference semi-finals which begin today, number one seed LTI will take on number four seed Wismar Christianburg Multilateral in the first match this afternoon, followed by number two seed Mackenzie High School taking on number three seed New Silver City School.

The winners of those two match-ups will meet in the conference finals on Friday to determine Linden’s conference champions who will take on the Georgetown champion in the GSSBA grand finale. In the Georgetown conference which is scheduled to begin on March 12, number one seed Cummings Lodge with their 14-0 undefeated record will take on the fourth seeded Queen’s College who finished the regular season with 11 wins and three losses.

In the other semi-final match, Central High School who finished with an almost flawless record of 13-1 will meet St John’s College (11-3) in a rematch of one of last week’s season finales which Central won by four points.

Although St John’s College and Queen’s College finished with identical records, St John’s was seeded higher because they had defeated QC in the second round of the season.

Tutorial and Bishops’ High School did not advance as they were tied for the fifth spot in the Georgetown conference, both finishing with decent 10-4 records which they gained from the top four teams

The Georgetown conference finals are set for March 14, after which there will be a brief break before the grand finale which is slated for March 21.

On March 21 all of the sharp-shooters, cross-over kings and high flying dunkers will have a chance to take the court for the GSSBA all-star event.

Apart from the much-anticipated three-point shoot out and slam dunk competition which will be open to all GSSBA players, the All-star game will take the Linden versus Georgetown format, consisting of the best 12 players from each town.

According to the GSSBA, 15 players would be selected within a week’s time to begin training for the all-star players so that the best 12 and the starting line-up for each side could be decided.