IBL and Williams Dawson Tournaments Keep Basketball Alive

Goodnight and welcome to another edition of Sports Monday. I am Paul Lopez. We begin tonight’s coverage with a look at the Inter-Office Basketball League’s semi-finals that took place on Friday night inside the Belize City Civic Center. The first match saw team Police face off against Belize Port Authority in their best-of-three series. Team Police is in the black and whole jersey. Airport Authority is wearing black and red.

 

Paul Lopez, Reporting

Gilbert Belisle on the inside with the first points for team Police. Airport Authority’s Shakeem Valerio at the free throw line after being fouled during a shot attempt. He banked the first free throw and missed the second. Six minutes in, Police has four points and Airport Authority has one point. Ball to Linton Broaster at the three-point line and those shot counts. Broaster again, this time with the quick release, puts up a second three-point shot. The ball found Broaster once more in the first quarter and he did not disappoint, with a buzzer beater three-point shot to end the first quarter with eighteen points for team police. Airport Authority finished the first quarter with three points. Team Police secured an additional fourteen points in the second quarter, primarily led by Sheldon Williams, while Airport Authority added twelve points to their score. So, the score was thirty-two to fifteen at the end of the first half. Airport Authority really struggled to find their shots in this game. They only scored three three-point shots in this one, compared to seven overall three-point shots made by team Police. In the end, it was a dominant game for team Police. They finished with sixty-seven points to their opponent’s forty-eight points.

 

The second game of the night saw Tuff E Nuff take on the Belize City Council. Tuff E Nuff was in the black while the Belize City Council wore their blue jerseys. Jamal Kelly find Orland Ferguson open. He goes baseline and puts up the first two points for Tuff E Nuff. Jamal Kelly from the three-point line with a big three, taking his team to nine points and forcing their opponents to call a timeout. The game is at nine points to zero, in third minute.

 

City Council’s captain, Auburn Rivero finally able to put his team on the score board. Shortly after, Keon Rowland deflated their momentum with this three-point shot off the throw-in. Tuff E Nuff Captain Douglas Valley inflicting further punishment with this made three-point shot.  The game is now at sixteen points to two. Earl “Bolo” Johnson finally getting something up for the Belize City Council to give his team four points. The first quarter ended with twenty-nine points for Tuff E Nuff and eleven for the Belize City Council. And, despite their best efforts, the Belize City Council wasn’t able to tighten the gap. Players like Ferguson, Valley and Tyrell Griffith proved too much for the Belize City Council. Leading scorers for that team were Johnson, Kevin Hamilton and Cordell Gonzalez. Ultimately, Tuff E Nuff won game one with eighty points to the Council’s fifty-five points. That’s a twenty-five-point win.

 

Belize’s Under-Twenty-One Male National Volleyball Team returned from Panama over the weekend with a bronze medal after competing in the Central American Under-Twenty-One Male Volleyball Championship. It is the first medal for the under-twenty-one national team in a regional tournament. Belize also walked away from several individual awards. Eliazar Mejia took the Best Hitter Award. Ingram Kaelen brought home the Best Opposite and the Top Scorer Awards. We say congratulations to the men’s national volleyball team for their stellar performance.

 

And now back to some basketball action. The Williams Dawson Sprite Basketball Tournament is now heading to the finals after its semi-final’s knockout matches on Sunday at the Yabra Greens basketball court. In the first match of the day, the defending champions Hard Rock Boys faced off against Hattieville Underdogs, with their eyes set on a three-peat. Early points for Hattieville from Devon Defour Zahir Harris putting up an additional two points for Hattieville.Gregory Buckley, Hattieville’s big man, gets it in. Looking for an opportunity to break Hattieville’s momentum, Earl “Bolo” Johnson gets a bucket. Herman Ramos under the rim, caught the defense sleeping, gets the easy layup.Jason Vasquez with the beautiful put back for the defending champions. On the other hand, Brand Rogers responded with a three-point shot over Johnson. The first quarter ended at eleven points apiece. But the Hard Rock Boys broke away in the second quarter, scoring seven points more than their opponents.

 

They finished the first half with twenty-four points to their opponent’s seventeen. Fatigue began setting in the second half. It ended up being a low-scoring half. Hard Rock Boys put up a total of thirteen additional points. Their opponents scored twelve points in the second half. In the end, Hard Rock Boys won the game with thirty-seven points to Hattieville Underdog’s twenty-nine points. The defending champions have secured another trip to the finals to play for all the marbles. Their opponents in the final match will be the Orange Court Generals led by Jayron Baptist and Francis Arana. They defeated Dan 1 with a final score of forty-three to thirty-four points.

 

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