Belize plays Barbados in CARICOM semi-final
It’s not the same as being there, but thanks to the technology of satellite communications, tonight’s crucial basketball game between Belize and Barbados will be broadcast live tonight on Channel Five immediately following this newscast. Just moments ago we spoke to Paul Flowers, sports analyst for Love FM, who has been following the tournament in Barbados. He updated News Five’s Stewart Krohn on what to expect.
Stewart Krohn
“Paul you’ve been there watching the whole tournament, what is the mood of the team right now?”
Paul Flowers, On the phone
“The team is very confident. They’re confidence is definitely growing, they were not as confident early in the tournament, but they’re confidence is growing now. They now believe that they can win. I don’t think they believed they could go all the way, but they now believe that. They’ve seen all the teams and they won two games by seventeen plus points. They feel that they can beat any team out here now.”
Stewart Krohn
“Now you’ve been watching the tournament and all the teams playing in it, what do you think about the Barbados team that they are going up against tonight?”
Paul Flowers
“The Barbados team on the first night looked unstoppable, they had everything. They had outside shooting, they had inside play, they had spectacular dunks, they appeared to have two full teams. That was then, when they were playing a fairly weak team, and nobody really realised that until later in the tournament. In the second game, they once again looked invincible, but by their third game, they were exposed. Their weaknesses were exposed by a very strong willed Dominican team and even in Barbados, they started to back pedal a little. By the fourth game, they actually lost to a weak team, Antigua and Barbuda, they actually lost to that team. That was their first lost and at this point they also have a problem, where their best player Andrew Alleyne, got hurt. So nobody knows, it’s a big secret some are saying that he is not hurt at all, some are saying he’s badly hurt…nobody knows. But right now, that is a team that is spiraling downwards as compared to us. We are definitely a team that is growing in confidence.”
Stewart Krohn
“Paul what kind of factor will this huge home crowd for Barbados play?”
Paul Flowers
“That is awesome, they have a very good arena, about forty-five hundred seating capacity and it is packed out every night when Barbados is playing and it is a raucous crowd, it will play a factor. They have a player by the name of Mario Lane, they call him “Super Mario”. If he gets away and dunks one of his spectacular dunks, then it’s going to be very difficult, cause he can swing the momentum like that the crowd is a big, big factor.”
Stewart Krohn
“What specifics tactics should we look for from the Belize team tonight?”
Paul Flowers
“The Belize team will run the ball on them. We are the quickest team out here, we are the fastest team and nobody was able to stand up against our running game over the last couple of games. Barbados is suspect in that area, they do not have a very good transitional defence and they celebrate a lot because of the home crowd. They celebrate a lot when they score, so that makes them susceptible to the running game. So we expect to be fast breaking them all night.”
Stewart Krohn
“Paul thanks a lot and we look forward to hearing your commentary on the game that will be coming up shortly.”
Belize must beat Barbados tonight for the right to play in the finals against the U.S. Virgin Islands. No matter which team wins tonight Channel Five will broadcast the finals live at seven p.m. on Saturday.
