James Adderley has sports
Good evening, I’m James Adderley and here’s a fresh serving of Sports Monday. The second round of the Semi-Pro Basketball season opened Friday night to the crucial confrontation between 4-0 B.T.L. Nets and 3-1 Kremandala Raiders. The Raiders came in seeking to avenge that early first round loss while the Nets were simply focussed on maintaining the clean sheet.
We open with a feed from Kevin Seroki which gives Darren Bovell the opportunity to knock down the tre for the Nets. At the other end Angus “Walla” Cherrington goes to the left hand off the glass to provide the immediate Raiders response. A.C. Augustine misses from the free throw line, Darren Bovell moves Bart Sanchez out of the way for an easy 2 and it’s B.T.L. with the early lead.
Of course even if you’re a rabid Nets fan to expect a big time blow out would be fool harded and the tre from Bart Sanchez ties the ball game at 15 apiece winding through first half. Sanchez then hooks up with Raymond Gongora who gets 2 more Raiders points. Meanwhile how Darren Bovell converts a pass from Seroki is anybody’s guess but at the half it’s a 39-36 B.T.L. lead.
Immediately into second half B.T.L. gets busy. Augustine misses but Darren Bovell is there to execute the put back. On the next press Seroki splits the defense to find Bovell who would wind up with the game high of 20 points along with 11 rebounds. The Nets begin to pull away as Lloyd Leslie strikes for the long duce and he would total 16 points. The Nets go up by 16.
The Raiders storm back, as Bart Sanchez steps up for 2 of his team high 15 points as he tries to lead his team in the absence of the injured Keith Acosta. In traffic off the miss shot, Maino Bevans corrals the rebound and sticks it back for 2. He would show a 2 doubles of 10 points, 16 rebounds. At the other end A.C. Augustine sticks for 3 and would record a game total of 12 points, 18 rebounds. Another bright spot for the Nets is Leroy Forbes who gets hammered by Kevin Flowers, but would still finish the game with 15 points, 12 rebounds. The Nets go on to win 76-62 for an undefeated 5-0 record. The Raiders fall to 3-2.
Kevin Castillo, Head Coach, B.T.L. Nets
“It was really, really big. Here we have the 4 or 5 time defending champion. We know of their experience; we know what they can do. I was very scared of them right down to the last minute.”
Q: “What was the defensive set for the Nets coming into this game knowing that Keith Acosta wasn’t playing?”
Kevin Castillo
“We really wanted to put pressure on them when we could. If you notice at the opportune moment we set a trap for them that really opened the game to about 15 points.”
On Saturday night’s ball game Dwight Myvette scored 24 points and dished out 10 assists as Habet Lakers crushed winless Southern Bombers 99-82.
Meanwhile folks at Friday’s game we spoke to newly installed head coach David Greenwood of the National Basketball Team headed to the COPA Tournament at Cuba today.
Q: “The third invitation for you to act as head coach did not go like a charm. Any comments?”
David Greenwood, Head Coach
“No, we’re just getting there. We were playing against teams that were a lot better than the ones for the CARICOM Games. I have spoken with a couple of friends and teams like Puerto Rico have been practicing for weeks and weeks and weeks. We’re trying to put together our team in only two days, so it’s gonna be difficult.”
J.A.
“In a newspaper I read that Big Dave said that he would have won the Venezuela championship if he had a big man. It seems you won’t have that big man again this time.”
David Greenwood
“Yes, one of our biggest problems is that we’re going to play against the Panamanians and the Panamanians started a lineup of 6’9″ – 270, 6’8” – 260 and 250. We had “Too Tall” with about 196 pounds and Olin Simpliss battling in that front line. We simply could not compete with them; we needed more physical guys. Now there’s Fred Garcia; we have Watson coming in. We’ll have some big bodies this time so I think we might have a different outcome.”
Q: “What impact will this very, very late start have on your performance at Cuba?”
David Greenwood
“I’m always positive and I always think that I can work with kids. We have some very smart players that are coming and hopefully we can work hard with 4 good practices and we’re gonna do the best that we can to win the gold.”
We certainly wish our team maximum success.
In cycling news Andrew Smiling outsprinted Ernest Meighan to take the fourth annual Labor Day Cycle Classic presented on Saturday on the Northern Highway, setting a new record of 4 hours, 49 minutes, 9 seconds for this 106 mile ride. Orson Butler pulled up third; Glen Godoy finished fourth while the Mexican Darwin Torres rounded out the top five.
That’s it. Join us same time, same place for another version of Sports Monday. Jah over all. I’m James Adderley.
