Team says it’s ready for the do or die game against Puerto Rico
kenton paulino
Equally important to Belize’s prowess on the court is its ability to study the enemy. Belize’s mental game off court has been as crucial as its command of the ball on court and today’s workout was less physical but similarly grueling. Following Thursday night’s stellar performance, the players took a day off from shooting and dribbling but mentally were in top form.
Kenton Paulino, Member of Belize National Team
“Well, today we just talked. We didn’t do much physically. We just did a lot of mental preparation, you know, how we gonna cover certain guys, how we gonna guard. We know that they’re real big in size. We just went over the game plan and how we’re gonna approach the game and what we gotta do mentally. You know, physically it’s gonna be a battle but more than anything we gotta be ready mentally for Puerto Rico.”
William Neal
“Now, you played big against big against Cuba yesterday. You had some good defensive plays and some big threes. How much of that do you hope to continue in tomorrow’s game?”
Kenton Paulino
“As a team we hope to build on that. We gotta come out have another great performance from Milt. You know solid performance from me and the other guys , contribute from top to bottom cause Puerto Rico is a very deep team, they play a lot of guys. We gotta keep our guys fresh. So we need everybody to contribute.”
Keenan Jourdan, Member of Belize National Team
“Well mentally, you want to get up for every game. I was really happy with our performance yesterday. We knew that we had to beat Cuba and everybody stepped up yesterday, we played a great game yesterday after such a stinker of a game against Mexico. I’m looking forward. We all know there’s gonna be a challenge to beat them; but we also know that if we win we’re in automatically. We don’t have to worry about who wins or who loses. We win and we’re in. So we control our own destiny, so I know the guys are gonna come with that mentality and hopefully we’ll play another great game.”
William Neal
“In terms of playing time, yesterday, and for most of the games for this tournament so far, you’ve had a lot of time on the court. How do you think that impacts you as the tournament continues?”
Keenan Jourdan,
“The good thing was because of the floor being so bad , we had that extra day off, so that helped me. I’m not one the younger guys who just recover day to day like that, so that help me out a lot. And then today, having today off, preparing for Puerto Rico tomorrow, you know, I feel really good about that. I’m just looking forward to the challenge and playing against some of the guys I know and a lot of the guys are my friends as well.”
Team Belize faces Puerto Rico on Saturday afternoon at four o’clock. Puerto Rico dealt Cuba its second consecutive loss in the FIBA tournament earlier today. The match-up, another decisive one for our national team, will be aired live on Channel Five.
