B.E.B.L. Best of Five Finals Series is Tied  

Goodnight and welcome to another edition of Sports Monday, I am Paul Lopez. The B.E.B.L. 2024 best of five finals series began on Friday night and, folks, tonight we have a series.

 

The Benny’s Belize Hurricanes played their first two home games over the weekend. The Hurricanes made a statement in game one, defeating the Defenders by twenty-four points in a game that ended eighty-seven to sixty-three points. And when you look at the stats for game one, Glency Lopez and Amir Ross played big minutes and contributed eighteen and nineteen points, respectively, to the win. Marquise Cunningham, who always finds a way to get the inside opportunity, finished with thirteen points on Friday night. Daniel Estes also scored some big points in game one for the Defenders. He finished with nineteen points.

 

 

 

We have also been seeing more by way of play time and performance from Devin Daly who finished with eleven points on Friday night, right in front of Richard Smith who ended the game with ten points. 2024 B.E.B.L. M.V.P. Nigel Jones left a lot to be desired in that game, securing only nine points for his team off four field goals. So that is basically game one in summary.  But game two was a different story for both teams. At the end of the first quarter Defenders led the game by six points with a score of nineteen points to Hurricanes’ thirteen.

 

 

 

A steal by Devin Daly at the start of the second and a foul at the other end. Daly using his size advantage. Victor “Vito” Evans on the other end of the court with the And-One finish. Devon Campbell guarded heavily by Amir Ross. Ross drew the foul and took a moment to celebrate with fans. Devin Daly putting his body on the line there to secure the rock.

 

Down by two points with seconds left in the second quarter, Glency Lopez worked his way along the baseline and made an impressive shot under the basket to tie the match at thirty points apiece at the end of first half. Early in the third quarter things got a bit physical between Campbell and Ross. Ross was initially T’d up after he head butted Campbell in the chest. But after reviewing the play, the referee found that both players were at fault. Campbell and Ross were kicked out of the game.  Less than three minutes later, Hurricanes called for change to bring in Sidibe Bourama. Seemingly upset by the decision, Alex Carcamo took off his jersey and left the game. He walked back to the locker room. The Hurricanes were trailing by three points.

 

 

 

Moments later, Hurricanes’ Assistant Coach Bart Jones picked up his backpack and followed behind Carcamo.  The match was tied at fifty-one a piece at the end of the third. Hurricanes down by one with seventeen seconds left on the clock, Kirk Smith Junior made a massive bucket to give his team a one-point lead. The Defenders were down with eight seconds, but certainly not out. Nigel Jones with the ball. He drew the foul on the inside and missed the bucket. Jones to the line. The first free throw to tie the game is good. Arguably his biggest free throw of the season, Jones banked it and gave his team the one-point lead. Evans tried for a two-point jump shot and missed. Eyan Rene with the second opportunity and he missed. The Civic erupted and the Defenders tied this best out of five series. Game three goes down on Friday night inside the Civic.

 

In some regional volleyball news, Belize’s Under- twenty-three National Female Volleyball Team is currently competing in the Under-Twenty-Three Central American Volleyball Championship being hosted by Honduras. Team Belize faced off against Guatemala on Sunday afternoon in their first match of the tournament. Despite the valiant effort, Belize fell to Guatemala in the fifth set. Tonight, they go up against Nicaragua.

 

 

 

 

Let’s now move into some football action. Belize’s football future is in good hands. The team to watch in this year’s Anthony Mahler Under-Thirteen Mundialito Tournament is Berger United. They may be newcomers but Berger United is dominating. On Saturday, they played against Ebony Lake inside the Berger Field.

 

One minute into this one, Berger’s Camron Brown cleaned up after Ebony’s goalkeeper stopped two attempts at goal. Two minutes later, Breylin Middleton found an opening in front of the goal and made it count.

 

Five minutes in and it was Middleton again with a long range shot direct to goal. Berger United went up by three goals. A minute later, Ebony Lake got some relief with a corner kick from Niroughn Arzu that hit target, much to the surprise of everyone on the field. Berger United won that game eight goals to two.

 

 

The third matchup of the day was between Sampson/Brown and Reality Youths. This one was a though matchup and it ended one goal to zero in favor of Sampson/Brown. At the twenty-sixth minute, goalkeeper Zion Clarke sent a ball flying to the other end of the field. It bounced once just outside of the penalty box and dropped over the goal keeper’s head and into the goal. The goalkeeper was clearly frustrated with himself.

 

 

 

 

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