The Mackenzie Sports Club (MSC) hardcourt will be the action station from this evening when the second annual Brusche’s Basketball Classic gets underway in the mining town with a double header.
Over $200,000 in cash and prizes will be up for grabs and tonight Linden’s number one club, Victory Valley Royals, national champions Wismar Pistons, Glands Trucking Service (GTS) Bulls and last year’s finalist Kashif and Shanghai Kings will begin the journey on the road to glory.
The night’s proceedings will commence with a colourful opening ceremony featuring all the participating clubs with the exception of the two city teams, defending champions Courts Pacesetters and Dyna’s Ravens.
And after all the speeches and customary greetings of players by the organisers it will be down to business with the opening game of the knock-out tournament featuring the Kashif and Shanghai Kings and the GTS Bulls.
For the Kashif and Shanghai organization-sponsored team, it would be their first showing in Linden since being relegated to second division status by the previous Linden Amateur Basketball Association (LABA) executives.
But this should not be taken into consideration says coach of the side Ashton Angel Jr. since he believes his team is well equipped to make it all the way to the finals.
The Kings last played at the Next Level Entertainment (NLE) tournament where they finished third but because of their second division status, they are barred from competing among some of the top flight clubs in the LABA organized tournaments.
With the Brusche’s Classic being an invitational tournament the avenue has been opened for
the country’s former top club to meddle among the big ones.
Angel says that they will be captained by national shooting guard Marvin Hartman with the towering Jason Alonzo expected to provide admirable support.
The team has made full use of the two guest players per team ruling and added national wing man Neil Marks from the Patriots along with Gavin Fingal of Amelia’s Ward Ballers.
Not much is known of the GTS Bulls lineup but their leading scorers, Terrence James and Kurleigh Austin are likely to lead their squad. The team is yet to win a major tournament under the coaching of the animated Claude Williams.
Meanwhile in what is expected to be ‘the match of the night’, the Victory Valley Royals will clash with their nemesis the Wismar Pistons in the feature game.
The Royals have been enjoying a good season having won the LABA First Division League while the Pistons finished as runners-up.
Led by the flamboyant Dwayne ‘Brown Sugar’ Roberts who also happens to be their leading player on both the defensive and offensive ends of the court, the league champions are one of the hot favourites for the title this year.
The two teams share a rich history of rivalry at tournaments of this nature but it was the Royals who recently have been having the upper hand.
Coach Raphael Damon will have to make sure that the entire team is meshing and not rely on the ever dependable trio of Trevor Profit, Quincy Jones and Nevin Grenville. Nevertheless it is always an unpredictable game whenever the two are on the same court.
The tournament is organized by former national basketball player and national coach Mike Brush and his three brothers, James, Clyde and Clifton and has Ground Structure Engineering Corporation which is headed by Charles Ceres as their major sponsor.
Meanwhile, $100,000 will go to the winners of this year’s event while second and third place teams will receive $60,000 and $40,000 respectively.
Individual awards such as most valuable player (MVP), most points and best defensive player will be up for gabs as well.
