Back-To-Back Champions, Hard Rock Boys
Goodnight and welcome to another edition of Sports Monday, I am Paul Lopez. “Hard days are the best because that is when Champions are made”, that’s a quote from American athlete Gabby Douglas. And, these champions have definitely seen some hard days. On Sunday evening, the Port Loyola Titans went head to head with the defending champions, Hard Rock Boys in the William Dawson Sprite/Digi Basketball Finals inside the Belize City Civic Center.
At the start of the game, Hard Rock Boys in possession. The ball is brought down the court by Marcel Richards. Nelson Tablada is on top defending. The pass is made to Joseph Sutherland, he finds Kevin Hamilton. Earl Johnson comes around to the free throw line. He puts up a jump shot and that is good. Here is a fast-break from the Titans, as Gabriel Taylor gets the rebound. He passes off to John Kelly. He finds Tevaun Lennon going to the rim. He passes it off and Lennon secures the layup. Richards passes to Hamilton. He finds Richards once again across the court. Richards hesitates and makes the pass to Jayson Vasquez. Johnson on the inside puts up the jump shot and that’s money. Watch Johnson in action again off the fast-break, Hamilton dribbles past Tablada. He looks to go up but Kelly is on him. A wild pass to Richards, Johnson gets in position and he gets the bucket. On the other end, Taylor sends the ball wide to Kelly. He finds Tablada at the three-point line. Tablada blows past Richards and Hamilton and puts it up. The two teams ended the first quarter with twelve points each.
Here is some second quarter action. This is the quarter the Hard Rock Boys began to take complete control of the game. Hamilton finds Travis Bernardez at the three-point line. He dribbles, passes off to Johnson. He gets the ball right back, steps to the right and makes the three-pointer shot. In this next play. Tablada gets the turnover and tries to push the ball down to Taylor, but Hamilton is there to recover. Bernardez is asking for the ball, he gets it and drives to the rim for a beautiful layup. Jayson Vasquez finds Johnson in the paint. Johnson goes up and makes the basket. Its a play we have been seeing Hard Rock Boys use over and over. Here is Hamilton ending the half in style with a layup at the buzzer. The first half ended with Hard Rock Boys in the lead with twenty-nine points to nineteen for the Titans. Hard Rock Boys would go on to stretch that lead to seventeen points in the third, sealing the deal in the fourth quarter and claiming the 2023 title, making them back-to-back champions in this tournament.
Chester Williams
Commissioner of Police Chester Williams
“May I take the opportunity to congratulate Hard Rock Boys. I must say I was rooting against you all. I wanted south side to win. But at the end of the day the better team became victorious. There is one person who I believe must be the MVP and if he does not get it, I am going to tear down the Civic Center today that is Bolo.”
The Most Valuable Player Award did in fact go to Earl “Bolo” Johnson.
And just like that, a six-month tournament has come to a close.
Douglas Hyde, Organizer, William Dawson Basketball Tournament
Douglas Hyde
“We had twenty-four teams, nineteen city teams and five village teams. Thank you to all these teams. Definitely next year we are already at thirty-four teams that want to participate in this tournament. And, we want to big up all these teams who have already expressed interest of 2024.”
And from basketball, we now move into some football action. The Anthony Mahler Mundialito Football Tournament is back for its 2023 closing season on Berger Field. On Saturday, the first match of the game was between Royal Fusion Girls and All Star United Girls. Four minutes into the match, Royal Fusion takes position. The ball is passed to Amina Burgess, she swings past two defenders, squares off with the goalkeeper and puts it in. Sixteen minutes into this one, Burgess finds Jacelyn Zuniga off the spot kick. Zuniga appears to attempt a pass to her teammate in front of the goal, but the ball rolls past the goalkeeper and a defender. Two minutes later, All Star United throws in the ball and turns it over to their opponents. Burgess sees the ball, finds the opening, and fires towards the goalpost for a third goal. The match ended in favor of Royal Fusion with All Star United unable to score a goal. The second match of the day saw Sampson Academy Boys take on Ladyville Rising Star Boys.
In the first minute of the match, the refs call a foul against Sampson Academy just outside the penalty box. Number four for Rising Stars, Keylon Gordon sets up for the spot kick. He kicks towards the goal; the ball goes off the shoulder of a defender and into the goal. And yes, folks, that would be the goal that ultimately sealed the deal for the Rising Stars in this match. The tournament continues on Saturday. The opening ceremony for the Pan-American Games in Santiago, Chile was held on Friday night. Belize sent a delegation of athletes led by Allan Sharp. Among those athletes are Ashanti Carr, Brandon Jones, Amado Cruz, Trent Hardwich and others. The games will run from October twentieth to November fifth. We will keep tabs on our athletes’ performance throughout the course of the two weeks. Well folks, that is all we have for you in tonight’s coverage of Sports Monday, catch you in the next one.
