The race for top individual awards in the Georgetown Amateur Basketball Association (GABA), Hits and Jams Television (HJTV) and Lens Craft sponsored inter-ward championships appears to be headed for a photo-finish climax but one player is standing tall in the tournament with impressive performances.
Known for his all-round game and more so for playing above the rim, national forward Andrew ‘Mr Dunk’ Ifill leads in two out of the five categories where players could cop individual awards.
Scoring well over 20 points per game, Ifill has led his team and defending champions North Ruimveldt to the final of the tournament. They will meet Wortmanville/Werk-en-Rust for a chance to cash in on the tournament’s $500,000 first prize which is the biggest pay cheque in local basketball history.
Ifill, who was named the Most Valuable Player (MVP) for the last tournament in 2007, has 51 rebounds so far while his teammate Damien Liverpool sits Second with 44. Wortmanville/Werk-en-Rust centre Royston Siland is third with 42 and Charlestown/ Albouystown centre Dwayne ‘Brown Sugar’ Roberts is on 41.
South Ruimveldt’s Sherwin Roberts and Dane Kendall so far have grabbed 35 and 34 rebounds respectively.
However, unlike Ifill, Liverpool and Siland will play in a best-in-three final, while the other players in this category only have one more game to play.
Meanwhile, in the race for the most points scored in the tournament, Ifill once again rules supreme and has amassed 111 points so far with two or three more matches to play. South Ruimveldt point guard Steve Neils Jr is second while Naylon Loncke and ‘Brown Sugar’ Roberts are locked on 66 points each. Rodwell Fortune known as the ‘Little Big Man’ has 59 points.
North Ruimveldt’s point guard Darcell Harris leads the tournament’s assists column with 14 so far while Neils Jr has 13. Devon Cameron of Wortmanville/Werk-en-Rust has ten and Loncke and Fortune both dished out nine.
However, Royston Siland who has been the driving force behind Wortmanville/Werk-en-Rust has picked up 22 steals so far in the tournament with two or three games left to play. Harris has 20, Loncke 19, Fortune 16, Roberts 14, Alwyn Bellamy 13 and Ifill 12.
Six foot, seven inches Kitty/Campbellville player Jason Alonzo who was booted in the quarter finals of the tournament leads the most block shots in the tournament list – 13. Roberts has six and Siland five.
According to Technical Director Dennis Clarke, this year’s tournament is by far the best where statistics are concerned since the players have all improved tremendously.
Clarke said this was because this basketball tournament is the richest ever played in Guyana where the winner will walk away with $500,000, second place $300,000, third place $200,000 and fourth $50,000.
The MVP, Clarke said, will be chosen from the winning team and will have amassed the best statistics in the tournament
