Hurricanes Force Game Five; Belize Falls Short At Paris Olympics

Goodnight and welcome to another edition of Sports Monday, I am Paul Lopez. The Belize Elite Basketball Limited’s 2024 Finals are tied at two wins a piece. Two games were played over the weekend inside the Belize City Civic Center. That controversial game three rematch was played on Friday night, while game four was played on Sunday evening. Notably, while fans were out for both games, the numbers were evidently low, leading many to believe that constant controversy within the league has turned fans off. In any event, let’s look at some highlights from both games, as we prepare for game five this coming Friday.

 

Paul Lopez, Reporting

Smooth bucket for Glency “Coope” Lopez at the start of game one. Devon Campbell with the baseline throw-in to John Kelly under the rim. Victor Evans falls to the floor. Hurricanes up by three points, Richard Smith in possession of the ball. He goes baseline, finds Devin Daly open at the three-point line. Daly with a pump fake and a huge three-point shot. Under three minutes left in the first quarter, Nigel Jones guarding Sidibe Bourama under the rim. Bourama passes off to an open Evans. The dunk finish, extending the Hurricanes’ lead to six points, twenty to fourteen. Daniel Estes with a huge dunk to cut down the six-point lead. The first quarter ended twenty-two to twenty-one points, in favor of the Hurricanes.

 

Tied at twenty-six a piece early in the second quarter, Estes from the free throw line gives his team the lead. Estes again, less than a minute later, alone under the rim, with the dunk to extend the Defenders’ lead. Tied at thirty-five points with three minutes left in the second, Everal Tablada banks the three-point shot from deep.  Tyrique Orosco responding on the other end with a corner three. The first half ended with the Defenders on top with forty-three points to Hurricanes’ forty-two points.

 

 

 

The third quarter was the biggest quarter in game three for the Defenders, they outscored the Hurricane by five points. It may not sound like a lot, but it is an advantage in matchups that are super competitive like this one. In the fourth quarter, both teams scored fifteen points equally. The game ended with the Hurricanes scoring seventy-five points and the Defenders finishing with eighty-one points, technically back-to-back wins for them.

 

 

 

The Hurricanes went into game four on Sunday evening facing elimination. John Kelly with the first points of the game for the Defenders. They are off to a good start. Victor “Vito” Evans came alive in this one with his team’s first bucket. Five minutes into the first quarter and the Defenders are in control of the game with a five-point lead. The Hurricanes made multiple failed attempts from the three-point, until Evans held on to the rock and cut the Defenders’ lead down to two. The Defenders scored nineteen points in the first quarter, while the Hurricanes scored eighteen points. It was a close game up to this point, but things began to go downhill for the Defenders in the second quarter.

 

 

Amar Ross with the hot hands from the three-point line early in the second quarter. Shane Pratt with the response on the other end.  Five minutes into the second quarter, Marquise Cunningham finds an opening under the rim and slams it in. Under four minutes left on the clock, Evans drives, the ball finds an open Ross at the corner three and he makes good on it. A costly turnover for the Defenders leads to an eight-point advantage for the Hurricanes on the other end.

 

An open jump shot from Cunningham resulted in the largest lead of the game for the Hurricanes and forces the Defenders’ head coach to call a timeout. This fast break layup from Orosco sealed off a dominant second quarter for the Hurricanes. They ended the first half with forty-nine points to the Defenders’ thirty-seven points. The Hurricanes continued their dominant display in the second half of the match, outscoring the Defenders by an additional twelve points over the last two quarters. They went on to win game four by twenty-four points with a score of ninety-four to the Defenders’ seventy points, tying the series at two games apiece.

 

 

As we look ahead of game five, one of the big questions tonight is, will Richard Smith be cleared to play after sustaining an injury in the third quarter of game four.  He had to be carried off the court and into the locker room.

 

While semi-pro basketball took center stage at home, in Paris one Belizean athlete who stole the hearts of many across the world, ran in the preliminary round of the men’s one-hundred-meter race in the 2024 Olympics. Shaun Gill placed sixth in Heat Four and did not qualify to move on as a result. Following his run, the Belize Olympic Association issued a statement saying that they are incredibly proud of his efforts. Gill also did a post-run interview with SportsMax TV in which he announced his retirement.

 

 

 

Shaun Gill, Belizean Athlete

“Before we get any further, I just want to say thanks for the support around the globe, especially Belizeans at home and abroad. Everybody does not know, but this was my last race. I am retiring. This is the official announcement. Thank you all. It has been about eighteen years. This was the last one. It was a sad moment for me. I didn’t get the performance I expected, but this was the last one.”

 

 

 

 

And in other one hundred meters Olympics news, Julien Alfred from Saint Lucia won the nation’s first ever Olympic medal for Saint Lucia. The twenty-three-year-old sprinter won gold in the women’s one hundred meters event, setting a new national record of ten point seventy-two seconds.

 

 

 

 

 

USA’s Noah Lyles won gold in the men’s one hundred meters finals. He won over Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson by five-thousandths of a second in a dramatic photo finish. Lyles won in nine point seventy-nine seconds. It was the first, one hundred meters finals in the history of the Olympics in which all runners finished in less than ten seconds.

 

 

 

 

Well folks, that is all we have for you in tonight’s coverage of Sports Monday. Catch you in the next one.