The Future of B.E.B.L. 2024 Finals Remains Uncertain

Goodnight and welcome to another edition of Sports Monday, I am Paul Lopez. The B.E.B.L. finals are in a state of uncertainty, following game three on Friday night.

 

The Hurricanes lodged a protest following the Defenders’ game three win. Let us look at this play. The Hurricanes are up by three points with fifty-four seconds left to end the game, when Marquise Cunningham secures the defensive rebound. The clock shows that it took the team about nine seconds to advance the ball past the halfcourt line. In basketball, that is an eight-second violation. On that play Sidibe Bourama made a two-point bucket under the rim to give his team a five-point lead with only thirty-six seconds left.

 

 

 

 

Well the officials reviewed the Instant Replay System, determined that the Hurricanes did in fact commit an eight second violation, took away Bourama’s two points, added time to the clock and gave the Defenders possession of the ball. Devin Daly under the rim, cuts the lead down to one point. A travelling violation was called on Cunningham on the other end. Richard Smith found Devon Campbell who sped pass Glency Lopez and banked the jump shot to give the Defenders a one-point lead. Nigel Jones with the finishing dunk, a little icing on the cake. That basket did not count. Fans were in an uproar, in celebration of what appeared to be a done deal.

 

 

The closeout game was set for Sunday. But as we said, the Hurricanes lodged a protest to the BEBL Disciplinary/Protest Committee. On Sunday morning, the Hurricanes organization issued a release noting that “the committee confirmed that the referees erred in their decision to use the Instant Replay System to assess an eight-second violation, which is not permissible under the specific circumstances outlined in the FIBA rules”. The Hurricanes expected that on Sunday the last thirty-six seconds of game three would be played prior to the start of game four. But that did not happen, as the Defenders sought to appeal the committee’s decision. We heard from the Defenders organization.

 

 

Reynaldo Malic, Co-Owner, Belize City Defenders

“We then decided to exercise our right to appeal the protest because we felt that the protest committee erred in its findings. I know it is natural to disagree with a decision that is not in your favor but we would not have wasted money and the valuable time of our Defenders and basketball fans in general launching an unnecessary appeal. When we look at the appeal letter submitted it was based on misleading information. It was obvious that the Hurricanes organization was misinformed. In their letter they stated that our head coach asks for a review for a possible eight second violation. We did not ask for a review, we could not ask for a review. As is rightly stated in the Hurricanes letter you can’t review and eight seconds violation. But that aside, we didn’t ask for a review so the Hurricanes letter said well they were granted a review and it was granted for something that cannot be reviewed. That is correct. What is wrong is we were not granted a review because we never asked for a review. The referee decided to do a review on his own with the IRS system. The reason he decided to do that is because repeatedly throughout the game the shot clock was being started late, not one, not twice, not three times, repeatedly the shot clock was being started late and it seemed to always favor when the Hurricanes had possession of the ball. You cant check for eight second unless it is the very final play of a quarter or in the overtime session. Since this was not the final play of the game he could only check for the twenty-four second violation in his incident report he quoted one of the FIBA rule guidelines to check for the eight second violation. However the one that was quoted, as I said before is specific to the end of a quarter or the end of a four quarter period. He was suppose to use the rule interpretation that applies to a play under two minutes less. While that is unfortunate. I would not want that to happen to me either.  What that amounts to and this is our assertion, it amounts to a referee error and since it amounts to a referee error, as egregious as it is, the fact of the matter is you cannot protest a game on a referee error.”

 

And from basketball we move into some volleyball action. Belize secured third place and claimed three individual awards at the Under-Twenty-Three Women’s Central American Volleyball Championship hosted in Honduras. Fatima Ramirez earned individual awards for best scorer and best attacker while, Nisaan Martinez received an individual award for best blocker. The team returned on Sunday. We spoke with the President of the Belize Volleyball Association, Allan Sharp about the medal and awards.

 

 

 

 

Allan Sharp, President, Belize Volleyball Association

“We are again very pleased to say that our team did excellent in the U-Twenty-Three competition. We came in with a bronze, but we battled very hard. WE bear Costa Rica; we beat almost everybody. We went to five sets with Guatemala. Unfortunately, we lost in the fifth set, sixteen, fourteen. But after losing the first two matches to the eventual champion, Nicaragua, we came back. The girl showed great mental strength and resilience and came back and played very well, won all the rest of matches and beat Costa Rica and we pulled off the bronze.”

 

 

 

There is not much time for rest as several of these ladies are preparing for the Under-Twenty-One Female Central American Volleyball Championship. It will take place from the sixteenth to the twentieth of June inside the Belize City Civic Center.

 

Allan Sharp

“As you remember we placed silver last time but this time we are going for gold. Quite a number of the girls from this U-Twenty-Three team that went away will be playing on this team. We always go for gold. We always play well at home, once the fans come out and show that big support. Our first match is against Nicaragua which is now the team to beat. It is between us and them. first night is on Tuesday sixteenth, play the Tuesday, Thursday, rest Friday against Salvador and Saturday the final night is against Guatemala.”

 

The Athony Mahler Under-Thirteen Mundialito held its semi-finals matchups on Saturday. It was a rainy day in the city, but the show went on. Berger United took on Belize United for a spot in the finals, while Sampson/Brown went up against Ladyville Rising Stars for that second spot in the finals. Belize United won their match one goal to zero. Ladyville Rising Stars defeated Sampson/Brown five goals to zero. Ladyville Rising Stars will face off against defending champions Belize United in the Anthony Mahler Under Thirteen Mundialito finals.

 

 

 

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