High School Basketball and Junior National Tennis Championships
Good evening, I’m James Adderley and this is Sports Monday.
Let’s jump quickly into the national High School Basketball Championships which was hosted over the weekend at Sacred Heart College in San Ignacio and folks that much college spirit was in full effect in the finals. Here’s the tip off to start Saturday’s male championship game between Sacred Heart College and Anglican cathedral College of Belize as Jamie Carbajal jumps against Douglas Valley and we’re underway. The 1st point of the ballgame comes from ACC as Keyvon Evans goes all the way to the glass for 2 of his fame high 17 points. At the other end, point guard, Raheem Crawford deals to Jamie Carbajal who lands the 1st triple of the matchup and would strike for 16 points. It’s more SHC when Crawford hooks up Jovan Zetina who sinks the 1st of his 2 three pointers to five his team a 1 point lead.
ACC replies on the next possession when Auburn Rivers hooks up with Keyvon Evan who strikes for 3. When Douglas Valley fails to corral this rebound off Crawford’s missed attempted Carlos Juarez takes charge to strike for 2 of his 13 game points. In 2nd quarter action, Douglas Valley goes glass for 2 of his 14 points and folks we have a good one here. This pass from Zetina to Carlos Juarez allows him to bank it for 2 and he would finish with 13 points. At the hald, Sacred Heart leaps 33-27. In the 3rd, the boys from the West blows the game wide open. Raheem Crawford streaks in for 2. Crawford then hooks up with Carlos Juarez who gets two more points. And here Crawford looks good as he penetrates to get 2 and would finish tied with Carbajal, both hit 16 points apiece. While at the other end, ACC just can’t find a bucket despite the effort expended.
At the end of the 3rd, ACC finds itself down by 10. In the 4th, ACC comes back. Evans finds Kevin Hendy who hits for 2 of his 11 game points. In the meantime, Douglas Valley fouls out on this move from Crawford and ACC would miss his presence. Evans picks up the slack as he ties the ballgame at 54 points apiece. Meanwhile, this is a big bucket from Francis Arana who would put up 11 points as ACC now boasts a 62-58 lead with 43 seconds to go. In the heavy traffic, Justin Ford comes with a tough 2 points to bring SHC to within 2 points. And then Carbajal comes up with the biggest steal of the game off this poor unbound pass.
When Justin Ford sinks the free throw, SHC is only down a point. Here, the biggest play of the match began; the inbound pass is stolen—the ball reached Carbajal and his bucket with time experience gives Sacred Heart the 63-62 big W and the 2013 National Male Title. ACC had 7 seconds to come up with a bucket; Francis Arana can’t deliver and just like that the new National Champ is Sacred Heart College.
On the female side, it was Wesley College and Delille Academy fighting for the title but the girls from Dangriga were simply out-hustled by their city counterparts as Wesley College takes the title in a 16-7 finish. In the meantime, Shanice Humes who put up 8 points in the win emerged with MVP honor while on the male side; Jamie Carbajal took the Male MVP Award. We say congratulations to one and all.
In table tennis news, the Junior National Championship was staged inside the BES Auditorium here in Belize City yesterday with competition in 3 categories. Alex Tun won the 12 and under category by beating Samron Pott who took the runner up spot while Jaylen Nicholson finished 3rd. Fabio Carballo took the 15 and under class with Joshua Gegg 2nd and Trevon Brown 3rd. Fabio Carballo re-appeared in the 18 and under category by ousting Harim Ochaeta in the finals with Gian Lisbey finished 3rd.
Turning to the football scene, the Belikin Cup could only complete 2 matches over the weekend. At Belmopan, the Bandits and Paradise Freedom Fighters battled to a tie while at the Norman Broaster Stadium FC Belize doubled San Ignacio 4 to 2. However, the bad news for FC is that Belmopan Bandits won their protest against FC and have lost 3 big points to the decision. Meanwhile, the Verdes/Police matchup at Benque was postponed due to the weather and now will be played this Wednesday 7:30 p.m. at the Marshalleck Stadium. Looking to Week 11, we find Belmopan Bandits battling the Police on Saturday, December 21st inside the Isidoro Beaton Stadium while on Sunday Paradise Freedom Fighters will host Verdes 3:30 p.m. at the Toledo Union and here at the MCC Grounds, FC Belize plays host to the B.D.F. With 2 remainign matches for each club, the Bandits lead with 17 points; Freedom Fighters show 14, the B.D.F. 12, Verdes 11 but has Wednesday night’s back match. FC Belize remains at 10 due to the protest, San Ignacio 8 and Police 4. Only 4 teams make it to the playoff round so every point is huge going down the stretch for teams with playoff ambition—only the Bandits have clenched so far.
Jah over all, I’m James Adderley.
