American economist and political writer Thomas Sowell said: “If the battle for civilization comes down to the wimps versus the barbarians, the barbarians are going to win.”
Tonight when North Ruimveldt and Wortmanville/ Werk-en-Rust meet, in game one of their best-in-three Finals of the Georgetown Inter-Ward basketball championships, both teams are going to be barbaric since no-one would want to wimp out especially with $500,000 on the line.
But who will be the wimps and who will be the
since the two sides are seeing this clash as a battle for civilization or should we say a battle to be rich?
They have thrilled the hundreds who turned out at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall on a nightly basis with their high-flying manoeuvres and wicked crossovers not to mention their on-point shooting, to earn their chance to cash in on local basketball’s richest tournament.
The tournament defending champion North Ruimveldt unlike their opponents for tonight, were stretched the full distance in their best-in-three semi-finals against Charlestown/Albouystown. But the team even though playing three games, showed that they are not that easy to close off.
North Ruimveldt on paper is the strongest in the tournament at all positions, led by national forward Andrew ‘Mr. Dunk’ Ifill and Point guards Darcel Harris and Ryan Stephaney.
These players have been the driving force for North’s victories in the tournament so far with Ifill leading the way. He leads the tournament in points and rebounds and is certainly a show stopper who is yet to be put under any pressure.
It will be intriguing to see how Wortmanville’s Royston Siland is going to manage controlling the likes of Ifill tonight since the centre/forward has quick hands and likes to play ‘above the rim’ just like Ifill.
Also there is the match-up of the ‘brain boxes’ of the two sides: Harris and Naylon Loncke. These two players are responsible for orchestrating the plays and marshalling their troops.
But Harris has a slight advantage over Loncke in the back court since he is much smaller and swifter than the chubby Loncke. However, don’t be fooled by his well-built structure he can get up the court in a jiffy as well.
On the bench, North has the edge over their counterparts since the team is said to have two starting line-ups. Any player can make the first five on any given night and they have been able to switch them around well through the tournament.
Tonight it will all come down to who can stop Ifill and Harris and who can keep Siland off the glass as well, but since half a million dollars is on the line, the players will be going all out.
Meanwhile the third place play-off is also a must see with Charlestown coming up against South Ruimveldt in a showdown that should set a perfect tone for the finals.
The ‘Ghetto boys’ will be seeking deliverance after falling to North Ruimveldt in the semi-finals after convincingly taking the first game. They will be turning to their star players, Dwayne ‘Brown Sugar’ Roberts, Rodwell Fortune and Alwyn Bellamy.
National Point Guard Steve Neils Jr and the veteran Dane Kendal will spearhead a strong South line-up which is also seeking salvation since it lost two straight games to Wortmanville in their semi-finals. Also one to look out for is the sharp-shooting Sherwin Roberts who can come up big in a splurge.
But with $300,000 on the line anything can happen. So the organisers were right when they say that this is Guyana’s NBA Playoff as the local boys thrilled their fans night in night out.
