Ravens basketball team bounced back from a dismal second quarter performance to retire the Beepat Scorpions 62-49 in the Open Division of the Georgetown Amateur Basketball Association (GABA) Pepsi Street Playoff Series Sunday night at the Burnham basketball court.
Fresh out of their unbeaten run in GABA’s Open League, which landed them on top of the table for the Pepsi Series, the Ravens went into Game One of their three-game series against the Scorpions looking like the dominant force that rallied to become the number one seed, until the second quarter.
Against a competitive Scorpions side that matched them shot for shot in the first quarter, the Ravens managed to end the first quarter of the evening’s opening game 15-14 ahead on the scoreboard.
After an impressive opening period on both sides of the court, the second quarter was a one-sided affair, which saw the Ravens recording one of their lowest quarterly scores in a game. While the Scorpions accumulated 16 points, the Ravens scraped a paltry three points for the entire second quarter which ended 31-17.
Coming out of halftime the Ravens defence was in full force. They had the Scorpions covered from the top of the key to the baseline and double teamed their opponents from the top of the arc, which forced a number of turnovers, in some cases before the Scorpions had a chance to get the ball in the paint.
Scorpions’ Division Three point guard, Shelroy Thomas, who was drafted into the senior team contesting the Open Division of the series was kept silent in the third quarter and seemed overwhelmed with the defensive pressure as the ball was picked from his possession and his passes were intercepted on many occasions.
As a result, Ravens amassed 22 points in the penultimate period and leveled the game 39-39 at the end of the quarter.
The Ravens prolonged their aggression throughout the final period, while the Scorpions seemingly gave up as they were being out-hustled and outscored.
By the final two minutes of the game Scorpions’ scoring was at a standstill on 49 points. With no shot clock in place at the venue, the Ravens claimed the majority of the possession and ran down the clock, garnering an 8-0 run in the process.
Ravens ever aggressive post player Ryan Gullen netted 13 points for his team, while Stepon Henry and Dwayne Roberts contributed 11 and 10 points respectively.
Even among senior players in the Open Division, Thomas was again the lead scorer for the Scorpions as he often is in Division Three with his 15 points. Also pitching in for the Scorpions was Trevor Mcleod with 14 and Alwin Bellamy, who added 12.
In the second and final game of the night the Courts Pacesetters were on top of the opposing Macabees unit for the majority of the game, which concluded with the former dishing out a 89-69 points trashing.
The Pacesetters controlled the game’s opening quarter (24-13) but the second period undoubtedly belonged to the Macabees and was the highlight of their efforts to topple the Pacesetters.
The Macabees launched a successful comeback spearheaded by Hodayah Stweart, who bombarded the Pacesetters basket with shots beyond and within the arc to total a leading score of 23 points.
One of Stewart’s bombs from downtown secured a 40-36 points lead for the Macabees heading into halftime, but Stewart’s efforts alone could not hold off the Pacesetters, who regained the lead before the end of the third quarter.
As Pacesetters hustling guards Hugh Arthur and Travis Burnette applied pressure on defence and picked up the steals, Pacesetters’ Naylon Loncke and Stephon Gillis also displayed their long-range prowess with back-to-back baskets from the three-point range, which pushed Pacesetters further ahead on the scoreboard.
Loncke and Burnette were the top scorers for the Pacesetters with 23 and 18 points respectively, while Gillis contributed 16.
Meanwhile, Stewart led Macabees scoring with 23 points.
