[www.inewsguyana.com] – A rampant Virgin Islands (VI) routed Guyana 95-75 last night as the hosts opened their 2014 Men’s CBC Championship campaign in some style in front of fervent home fans inside the Multi-Purpose Sports Complex.
Inspired by Halstead “JR” Chiverton, who went on a 15 point first quarter rampage including hitting five of eight attempts from down town and some dynamic defending, the VI finished the first period 30-22 ahead.
The game was still pretty close until half way through the second period when the VI turned up the heat, going on an 18-6 run to effectively put the game to bed.
Kennedy H. Bass launched the spurt with a “3”, Rasheed Cann did likewise and then almost defying gravity, Steve E. Parillon spun in midair and unloaded a behind the back pass for Norville Carey to smash in two more points. Cann notched another “3” and the Randy George made a two and drew a foul after another scintillating transitional move down the Guyana right.
“It was a good home win, everyone was a little fired up and when “JR” shoots like that, it sets the pace for how we are supposed to play. We picked up our defense from his energy and put them away. The young guys did well and we need them to close out games,” commented Kennedy H. Bass.
After the onslaught and into the second half the game slowed down, but with Smith and Carey both visiting the charity stripe and “JR” sinking another couple of points, both teams knew the game was done.
Bass finished with 7 points, Rasheed Cann 16 with 9 assists, Norville Carey 12 points, Steve E. Parillon 13 with 8 rebounds and Dione Blyden 11 points, including a solo display of two and three point shooting at the end which had the crowd whipped into a frenzy and up on their feet cheering and waving flags.
Guyana was led by Gordon Klaiber with 17 points, Dwayne Roberts who scored 6 rebounds and Rawle Marshall who finished with 12 points and 5 assists.
The USVI, complete with Jason A. Edwin, also captured their first victory after defeating Barbados, 66 -53.
The best scorer of the match was Cuthbert Victor, of the USVI, with 19 points. Phillip Jones added 11 and both Aaron Brown and Craig Williams scored 10, with Williams adding 9 assists.
David Gill led Barbados with 10 points; Akeem Marsh scored 10 with 6 rebounds and Andre Lockhart 10 points with 3 assists.
The CBC Men’s Championship got underway with the much fancied Bahamas routing the well supported St Vincent and the Grenadines, 84-53.
The Bahamians got off to a fast start right from tip off and never looked seriously threatened by the Vincentian team that included Damian Ottley, a player well known in local Basketball circles, as they lead from start to finish.
Alonzo Hinds finished the top scorer for the Bahamas with 14 points along with 6 rebounds, 3 assists and 4 steals. Eugene Bain notched 11 points with Magnum Rolle finishing on 9 and 6 rebounds.
For St Vincent, Sean Baptiste had 16 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists. John Gardener scored 15 points with 8 rebounds and Ajani Edwards scored 7 points with 5 rebounds, 7 assists.
Cuba took on Antigua in the second game of the day and came away with an 82-56 victory.
Yohan Haiti led Cuba with 20 points and 15 rebounds, Oliva Osmel scored 14 with 6 rebounds, 4 assists and Lisvan Valdez 13.
For Antigua, Ernest Scott scored 17 points with 10 rebounds, Jerome Richardson 16 points and Sharife Sergeant 10 with 5 rebounds.
