James Adderley has the stats on sports
Good evening I’m James Adderley and this is Sports Monday.
Week 14 in the NEBL brought regular season play to a close with 3 teams vying for the remaining 2 spots in the 4 team post-season. So we head to Birds Isle where Friday night Belize City Smart No Limit and the Dangriga Culture Warriors faced off in a must win situation to make the playoffs. No Limit comes out firing immediately as Greg Rudon gets the scoreboard going with this long deuce and Rudon would out up 17 points tonight. Rudon then deals to Brian White who goes into the pain to land this difficult bucket and would earn 3 the hard way. In fact tonight White strikes for 13 points – his biggest offensive output of the season. For Dangriga Jamir Flores shoulders the responsibility to keep the Warriors in the hunt as he goes the length of the court to strike for 2. Flores would lead Dangriga with 13 points. Nevertheless at the half No Limit is up 24 to 16. In the 2nd quarter action Brian White finds Andrew Ortiz who unleashes the fury with a monster 2 hander and he would lead all players with the game high. In this feed from Ervin Orosco, Andrew Ortiz show off his reverse lay off the glass as No Limit continues to pull away.
At the other end Gary Francisco finds Brandon Flowers who raises up for 2 and would finish the 2nd half would only score 11 points and at the half the score is 48 to 27. We’re in the 3rd and here is something you don’t see often – Akeem Trapp thinks he’s home free on this lay up only to see Jamir Flores swat his 2 points off the count. However No Limit continues to roll – Trapp hooks up Greg Rudon and he sinks 2 more points. They then bring Jamir Enriquez off the bench and he comes out firing and would finish with 11 points. For Griga Trevaughan Usher comes up with double digit points striking for 12 but it wouldn’t be enough. In the meantime Matthew Young chaired the boards with 14 rebounds but would only hit 5 points as No Limit blows out Griga warriors 94 to 64 to grab #3 seed in the playoffs. This No Limit is in and Dangriga is out. San Pedro Tigersharks goes into the playoffs as the #1 seed with 38 points, Cayo Western Ballaz is next with 36 points, Belize City No Limit is 3rd with 32 points and both the Belmopan Bandits and Griga Warriors concluded with 30 points apiece. The Belmopan Bandits makes it on an 11 points differential over Griga. The playoffs get underway this Friday May 23rd at San Ignacio where Cayo Western Ballaz will host Belize City Smart No Limit. The west won both regular season outings against Belize City. On Saturday San Pedro Tigersharks will host the Belmopan Bandits – a team they bested twice. The 3 game playoff format is in effect people.
Now let’s head to the Isidoro Beaton Stadium where the Belmopan Bandits and Police United met in game 2 of the home and away series for the PLB Closing season. The Police found themselves in the difficult position of needing a 4 goal margin of win after last week 3 – zip defeat let the hands of the Bandits. It could have been a promising start for the Police when Danny Jimenez fires this set piece at goal only to see the ball rear outside the sticks at the last minute. It’s more Police when this corner kick is kept alive to Devon Makin whose header is not too far away from the game opener. The Bandits almost open the scoreboard when Brandon Peyrefitte finds Jerome James with this center but the striker’s header goes wide of the target. The Police reply off this set piece triggered by Danny Jimenez who pick out Trevor Lennan and his power header forces a necessary finger touch save from goalkeeper Woodrow West. We’re in early 2nd half play when Jerome James fires this floater at goal but it didn’t have the piece to beat Keith Allen in goal. The Police continues to look for goal when Lennox Castillo deals to Danny Jimenez who squanders the opportunity with a high riser. It’s Lennox Castillo still in the role of provider when he deals into the mix to find Trevor Lennan who goes for power instead of placement. Meanwhile this slight touch from Dalton Eiley Jr. denies Lennox Castillo the god pass to a waiting Andre Makin as the scoring chance disappears.
Now here’s the back breaker for the Police. David Trapp gets this set piece into the mix, the Police fail to clear properly, Elroy Kuylen launches a bouncer with the left foot and Keith Allen cannot keep it out of the goal at the 80th minute. Belmopan Bandits go on to post the 1 – zip big W, thus sweeping the Police in a 4 – nil aggregate score for the PLB closing season. Belmopan now won 3 of the last 4 PLB competitions and are now headed to the UNCAF Champions Tournament 2014. We say Congratulations. Jerome James of the Bandits emerged with MVP honours for the playoffs and that’s big. In more football news our National Female Team left yesterday for Guatemala to participate in the finals for the female world cup. On Tuesday they play Honduras, Panama on Thursday and Guatemala on Saturday.
In Table Tennis News Amiri Hoare, Jaylen Nicholson and Ferry Su emerged atop the rankings in that order; 12 and under category of the smart Junior Ranking held over the weekend. At 15 and under it was Amiri Hoare again with top honours followed by Joshua Gegg and Matthew Usher. While at 18 and under category Trevon Brown, Latrell Solis and Joshua Gegg finished 1, 2, 3, in that order. In body building news Rigo Vellos represented Belize Sunday in the Copa Escarciga in Mexico and emerged as champion. Good show and nuff respect from Sports Monday.
Turning to cycling scene we take you to the start of the Cashew Fest Race presented yesterday by the Weekend Warriors which from Leslie’s Imports to the Crooked Tree Junction via the Boom circuit for some 50 miles for A&B riders. At the turn around point at mile 35 on the Phillip Goldson Highway we have a 9 man lead featuring Daniel Cano, Kent Gabourel, Jim Scott, James Frampton, Roy Cattouse, Sean Howard, Gilford Dreg and Robert Marciano. Some 35 seconds later we find Barney Brown leading the chase group that has taken aim at the front runner. We have a scorcher at the tape as Sean Howard of Stationery House/Medina’s just edges out Jim Scott of Santino’s for top honour. Daniel Cano of Digicel 4G pulls up 3rd, Kent Gabourel of Megabytes pull sup 4th while James Frampton of Santino’s rounds out the top 5. At the B Class in the same race it was Roy Cattouse, Robert Mariano and Santino Castillo finished 1, 2, 3 in that order.
