Basketball and Boxing Matchups in Weekend Sports
Good evening, I’m James Adderley and this is Sports Monday.
Friday night’s big match dubbed the battle banks saw Atlantic Bank challenge the Heritage Bank in a bid for bragging rights inside the BDBA Firms Competition. Heritage Bank roars out of the starting blocks. Kevlin Rhoden misses the jumper but Kurt Burgess is there to clean up the boards and sink the put back. Down low, Andrew Ortiz spots Rico Black unattended. Atlantic Bank looks to Felix Martin for some offense and he beats everybody down court for 2 of his 16 pts total. Nevertheless, at the end of the 1st, Heritage Bank rules in a 23 to 14 score. In the 2nd, Kurt Burgess takes his game into the paint and there’s no one to stop him as he gives Heritage Bank a 13 pt lead. Kurt Burgess would register game high of 24 pts 19 rebounds and would attract an efficiency rating of 42; the highest for the outing. However, here comes Atlantic Bank. Ervin Orozco deals to Herman Ramos who pulls up for a long deuce. Ramos would lead Atlantic with 19 pts and 12 rebounds. On this trip down court, Atlantic Bank finds that veteran Cassian “the Russian” Flowers and his base line jumper for 2 of his 14 game points.
And when Herman Ramos hits the triple, Heritage has pulled up to 38 pts thereby cutting the lead to 1 pt going into intermission. In the 3rd, Felix Martin raises up for 3 of his 16 pts in an attempt to renew the separation. At the other end, Ramos answers with a three for Atlantic. In the meantime, this baseline jumper from Cassian Flowers gives Atlantic Bank a 3 pt lead. Heritage Bank coems roaring back. Burgess deals to Devon; he gets 2 of his 6 pts. And then Burgess works his way through the pain to give his team a 58-51 lead at the end of 3. Atlantic Bank makes a run in the 4 quarter. Ervin Orozco finds Herman Ramos and he sinks his 5th triple. Cassian Flowers sinks this bucket and Atlantic Bank takes a 1 pt lead with 7:25 to go. Kurt Burgess returns the lead with this 2 point offering. With 2½ remaining, Cassian Flowers gives Atlantic a 1 pt lead. Atlantic Bank hangs on to the 68-66 big win.
In the nightcap, Belize Telemedia handled Central Health 81 to 75 riding on a double digit of 11 pts and 17 rebounds from Lennox Cayetano while Jason Vasquez led in scoring with 25 pts and Eddie Thompson threw up 17 in the big win. On Saturday’s ticket, Infotel drowned BWS 90 to 75 and Belize Bank Bulldogs beat Bowen and Bowen in a 79 to 69 final score.
Turning to the boxing scene, the Sacred Heart Auditorium in scenic San Ignacio, played host to an international professional fight card presented by the Belize Boxing Development Council on Saturday night. In the opening bout, Rony Aldana of Belize weighing 108 lbs did enough to impress the judges to get the win over Roberto Canul Solis of Mexico in the 4-rounder. Max pain Williams at 142 lbs got the nod on Eric Arguelles of Mexico in a fight that could have delivered more. Michael Soberanis was not at his best Saturday night against a game Alfredo Moro of Mexico but was good enough to earn the win in a tough fight. In the meantime, an out of shape Mohammed Harmouch of San Pedro ran into a Luis Salzedo, a tough Mexican who floors him here with the straight right and the Belizean would not survive the 1st round. The 6-round battle between Jose Duran of Honduras and Freddy Aporto of Nicaragua proved to be a case of tit for tat, butter for fish, and in the end the judges concluded that Duran, the Honduran got the better of it. In the final bout of the night, Eduard Esquivel of Belize at 139 lbs was impressive enough to get a unanimous decision over Eric Samuels of Honduras in quite an entertaining matchup.
Jah over all, I’m James Adderley.
