Some of Guyana’s best shooters and dunkers, along with junior ballers, are set to take the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall by storm this evening as the 7th Annual Beepat Scorpions All-Star weekend bounces off.
The Linden Juniors last year upstaged their city counterparts 79-77 in what turned out to be one of the hottest junior all-star games to date.
The mining town boys led by their star trio, Chris Williams, Akeem Kanhai and Orin Rose, took apart Georgetown’s defence last year with Kanhai later being named the Most Valuable Player.
It would be the same cast of Georgetown players with Tyron Hamid, Travis Burnett, Jermain Slatter and John Fraser, who are all making noise among the more senior players in the city and knowing these individuals, they would want to exact revenge for their narrow defeat.
Sizing up the two teams, it is predictable that most of the basketball would be played from the back court with Burnett matching up against Williams, Rose against Fraser and then there will be Hamid against Kanhai.
But Kanhai would make the difference on the Linden side and probably give them a slight advantage over Georgetown, since the national junior captain is what you would call a ‘swing-man’; he can play all the areas on the court fluently.
Last year Kanhai displayed this skill by grabbing a triple double (12 points, 10 steals, 15 rebounds and two block shots) and from then to now, the 18-year-old has improved tremendously and tonight it would be interesting to see how Georgetown would try to shut him out, but no team so far has done that completely.
However, there is Chris Williams, undoubtedly a player with talent just as Kanhai and is one of the most underrated junior players in Guyana.
Williams who plays for the Victory Valley Royals in Linden has made a name for himself in that arena. His on point shooting from downtown can easily match any senior player in Guyana and also the guard can pass the ball well.
Like Kanhai he too has improved in his ball-handling skills and his court vision as well and definitely Burnette, who is by no means a pushover, will have his work cut out for him.
Looking at the front court, Slatter by far stands out over the Lindeners with his tall and well defined athletic structure and he can leap over his opponents to get on the glass faster and more efficiently but if Linden should play like they did last year, fans would certainly be in for a night of basketball at its best.
Meanwhile in the showpiece events, Defending Slam Dunk Champion Tyron ‘So Spectacular’ Hamid and Three-Point Shoot Out King Stephon Gillis will certainly have to walk with their ‘A’ game tonight as a bunch of hungry ballers would be coming after them.
Hamid wowed the crowd last year with his high flying manoeuvres to sink Trinidadian Steven ‘Lighter’ Lewis and he easily won the junior title as well.
Since then the Ravens Basketball Club member has secretly been working on some dunks, which he says was never attempted before or ever seen in Guyana.
Last year’s junior runners-up Marlon Anderson is back once again and the word around the local basketball circuit is that he is coming to dethrone Hamid in the seniors.
His other competitors would be Collis Pluck, Keron Rhodes, Vivian Alder and Travis Foster while two dunkers are expected from Berbice. Gillis on the other had will have to face two time junior champion Orin Rose and by every yardstick there is nothing junior about the shooting of the Lindeners.
And if Gillis thinks that he will just have to contend with Rose, Chris Williams will also join the hunt for the title of best shooter.
Williams, Rose and champion Gillis will do battle with Neil Simon, Leonard Caleb and Stryon Obermuller, all from Linden, while from Georgetown there will be Naylon Loncke, Kevin Lawrence, Ryan Stephaney, Trevor Smith, Jason Squires, Stanford Favorite and Desmond Chin.
Meanwhile the fans will also have a chance at cashing in on the big bucks and hot shots event as well as the half court shot for $100,000 which has never been won.
In the hot shots event two persons would be shooting at opposite sides of the court within a given time on the clock and at end of the time given, the person with the most points would be declared the winner. In order to enter, fans would have to purchase a $200 Digicel Flex card in the Sports Hall or buy one Tropical Rhythm.
For the half court shot any purchase over $1000 from Digicel or two bottles of Tropical Rhythm juice will give you a chance.
