Bayside Blazers break Momentum!
Earlier, Pure Playaz fought off the gutsy challenge of Skillful ballers, 68-65, and in a Junior Division clash, Shooting Stars silenced Top Guns, 71-47.
Bayside Blazers vs Momentum
Momentum, with the likes of big men Leslee J. Smith, who played pro basketball in England, and Kitwana Rhymer, had many fans expecting a keenly contested affair; however, Bayside Blazers showed no signs of intimidation as they took the game fiercely to Momentum.
Douron R. Phillip was particularly a problem for Momentum with his usual aggressive and physical style of play as he bullied his way to 16 points, grabbed 11 rebounds, made 4 blocks and 2 steals.
Phillip also showed that he is capable of shooting from long range, as he dropped in three 3-pointers.
Tavon J. Phillip netted 16 points, Jerry Hatchett 15 points and Dwayne Stoutt 13.
Bayside Blazers also featured for the first time their overseas player, Hansen S. Donato, a skillful point guard who was rather effective in providing scoring opportunities for players under difficult situations.
With Leslee J. Smith and Kitwana Rhymer not really interested in using their height and size in the paint, a much smaller Devon Peltier let the Momentum resistance with 22 points.
Both Smith and Rhymer had 11 points, with Smith pulling 11 rebounds.
Pure Playaz vs Skillful Ballers
What basketball fans were probably not expecting was for Skillful Ballers to give Bayside Blazers slayer, Pure Playaz, a run for their money.
Thanks especially to their draft player, Dione M. Blyden, Skillful Ballers provided quite a challenge for Pure Playaz, who saw their usual marksmen, Ray D. Victor and 3-point specialist Nicols Charles constantly missing the target.
Added to Pure Playaz’s predicament, their star player Romain Minott fell into early foul trouble and had to be benched for a long period in the 3rd quarter.
Skillfull Ballers trailed 22-29 at the half and thanks to some sloppy plays by Pure Playaz they were able to stay in the game, although trailing by 6 points at the end of the 3rd quarter, 46-52.
The ‘underdogs’ then brought the interest of the crowd alive when they managed to firstly level the score, 52-52, then seize the lead 54-53 three minutes into the 4th quarter.
Pure Playaz would then retake the lead, with Victor and Minott stepping up their game to see Pure Playaz to a 64-54 points lead.
Cheered on by the crowd, Skillful Ballers fought back to level the score 64-64 with 1:34 minutes remaining in the game.
Minott; however, had had enough and made a breakaway with the ball. Finding Blyden under the basket, Minott heroically went for a dunk over Blyden and was successful, much to the amazement and entertainment of the crowd.
Pure Playaz would eventually come out 68-65 winners, although Skillful Ballers did manage to get 2 shots off with 5 seconds on the clock but were off target.
Minott had a game high 21 points while Victor had 14 points and 9 rebounds. Steve E. Parillon supported with 8 points and 11 rebounds, Ansel Revan 6 points and 12 rebounds and Bjorn Caleb 4 points and 12 rebounds.
Top scoring for Skillful Ballers were Blyden (13 points, 13 rebounds), Shakeem Blackmore (11 points, 13 rebounds) and Elroy Bollers (11 points).
Shooting Stars vs Top Guns
In the Junior Division game, Shooting Stars were propelled to victory by Jason Audaine (13 points) and Aaron Williams (14 points).
The top scorers for Top Guns were Chris Dwarka (12 points), Shakhoy Smith (10 points) and Deondrea Baijnouth (10 points).
Play continues this evening at the Save the Seed Energy Center with three games.
See schedule below:
Sunday September 1, 2019
5:00 PM- Jr Bayside Blazers vs Young Starz (Jr Div)
6:30 PM- Nex vs Medics
8:00 PM- DA 3rd vs 79
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