School’s Basketball Festival tip’s off with a bang

The National School’s Basketball Festival (NSBF) got off to an exciting start last Sunday evening as Queen’s College notched their first win over the Government Technical Institute (GTI) at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.

Queens College (QC) outlasted GTI 43-38 at the final buzzer in an up and down match-up that was decided in the final minutes of the game.

While never leading in the game GTI always made good runs that seemed likely to get them an edge as their superior inside game was evident.

However, QC was always managed to counter the runs of GTI although their offense seemed a bit out of sync throughout the game especially as GTI’s defense was terrific in the game, blocking a number of shots.

Kareem Critchlow, who was a quite substitute, off the bench came up big in the game scoring 24 points off the pine while Anthony Richards had 10 points and nine rebounds in the losing effort for GTI.

President’s College (PC) then fell to Guyana School of Agriculture (GSA) 32-35 in a close encounter.

PC, who gave up a slim lead early in the second quarter, failed to close out the game as they found themselves in foul trouble allowing the GSA players to shoot free throws which eventually helped them record the win.

Jamal Datson was instrumental for GSA in the win as he lodged a double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds to help secure the first victory.

Nyamebekyere Bacchus tried his best using his superior post game but could not come up with a massive game to win it for PC.

He scored 12 points while grabbing 11 rebounds. Durvash Roopnarine also had 12 points but was abysmal from the field missing a lot of his shots.

Meanwhile, in the under 16 competition, Kelvin Yorrick threw away the chance to defeat Kwakwani’s under-16 team when he missed a free throw with 0.4s left in the game.

The game eventually ended 40-41 in favor of Kwakwani.

Plaisance who were always down during the course of the game had clawed their way back into the game and with their score on 39 and Kwakwani on 40.

Yorrick made one final drive in the dying seconds which sent him to the free throw line.

However, the old proverb; ‘pressure burst pipes’ definitely proved true as Yorrick shot his first free throw horribly wide of the basket.

He then made his second.

Yorrick ended with 20 points and 10 rebounds for Plaisance while Christopher Bunbury had 13 points and 11 rebounds in the painful loss.

Shemar Ferguson, with his smooth crossovers ended with 11 points to help Kwakwani secure the win.

Marian Academy Junior side then rolled all over New Amsterdam Multilateral Secondary (NAMS) 33-18.

NAMS played their best basketball in the first half and stayed within six points of Marian Academy to end the first half.

However, as Marian turned the heat up in every aspect of the game, they walloped NAMS defense by scoring a further 15 points in the second half while only allowing NAMS to score five points in the 20 minute second half.

Himalon DaSilva was the top scorer for Marian with eight points.

He also grabbed eight rebounds while Nichols Blair was NAMS’ best scorer with five points.