THE KARTAL AND SOUTH CENTRAL PUSHED THE GAME TO THE WIRE AT 2008 NAGICO BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT
St. Maarten April 11, 2008Four (4) local teams took to the courts for the 2008 Nagico Basketball Tournament action last Thursday evening.
The first match was a B division game between The Saints (B) and 284 Boyz. The first half was very close and ended in only a one (1) point advantage for the Saints. It was after the end of the first half that the Saints applied the gas and left the 284 Boyz in the dust. On offence, Renil Blondel lead the scoring for the Saints with 14 points, shooting just over 41% for the night. The real gem of the evening was no. 8 Chris Leblance who made his defensive presence felt by ending the night with nine (9) defensive rebounds, one (1) block and six (6) steals. Even with a game high score of 21 points from Sylvia Bliden of the 284 Boyz, it was not enough to prevent the Saints from winning 41 - 58.
The second game of the evening saw the A Division Da Kartal facing off against South Central. The two teams kept the game very close with the Da Kartel shooting 29% compared to that of 28% from South Central. The real difference came in the form of Da Kartel's two big men "No. 7" Shaun "Green Mile" and "No. 15" Kenneth, who both dominated "in the paint" . With a combined total of 14 offensive rebounds, eight (8) defensive rebounds and three (3) blocks each, South Central had to work extremely hard for every point.
The game high scorer was Glen Carty of South Central who ended the evening with 13 points. The final score for the night was a 45 - 49 win for the Da Kartel, after a very tense game that was tied through out the (4th) quarter. The win was only achieved after some very tight defensive pressure by Da Kartel, which forced several turnovers in the last 20 seconds of the game.