Guyana ‘A’ gain sweet revenge over DC Jammers
… overseas guests stage temporary walkout
By Leeron Brumell
Guyana Chronicle
July 3, 2004
GUYANA’S ‘A’ team, gained sweet revenge over the DC Jammers on Thursday night when the final of the International Basketball tournament was contested at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall, even when the guests staged a temporary team walkout in front of the biggest crowd the sport had seen since the bottle-throwing incident in early 2003, which threatened the future of the game.
Guyana ‘A’ triumphed 88-80 in a somewhat close and physical encounter which saw cheers and jeers by the fans and flared tempers, no doubt a game to be remembered by all for months and even years to come.
It was a night that saw a combination of Guyana ‘A’ and ‘B’ teams in an effort to upstage the powerful and towering Jammers.
Four ‘B’ players, Kester Gomes, Neil Marks, Terrence James and Mark Trotz, were drafted into the line-up to boost the locals’ chances of pulling one back on the Jammers who had dominated them on Tuesday 82-68.
The ball game was hotly contested in the first period with both teams ending deadlocked at 25-all, and by halftime Guyana held a slim three-point advantage 45-42.
After the resumption the game became physical, but both teams played on, the Jammers were bigger ... you be the judge.
Guyana played hard, so too did the Jammers but the locals were more on top of their game and by the end had established a lead of as much as 12 points, that was reduced to seven by the end of the third period.
The fourth period saw all kinds of incidents, extreme protests by the Jammers’ bench from manager to player and with 7:28 to play in the game the Jammers staged a temporary walkout.
They gathered up their belongings and headed to the exit. However, with some persuasion they returned to the bench.
The stoppage was for approximately two minutes and in that time, the fans became agitated, the scorers looked confused and the Jammers were in the face of referee Michael Prince, who, after the game was still hostile, even to this Chronicle reporter.
The cause of the walkout was a double technical foul called against the Jammers.
The Jammers determined to win with everything going against them broke down the lead to a three-point game, showing their worth, but then they fouled Guyana’s Steve Neils Jr. who nailed both his free throws as Guyana then went up 80-70.
With 1:36 to go, Andrew Ifill was fouled going to the basket; it looked deliberate.
He nailed the shots at a crucial time and Guyana led 84-78.
Lugard Mohan was then fouled as the Jammers worked hard to thwart points and keep the game in their reach. Mohan, who had earlier missed two free throws, nailed one of his latest. The seconds ticked away and Guyana won 88-80. Jammers nailed a reversal dunk in the dying seconds to reach 80, somehow going out with a small bang.
For Guyana, Andrew Ifill led with 21 points, had one rebound and two steals, Steve Neils Jr. and Terrence James 16 points apiece and Dwayne Roberts 14 points, while Lancelot Loncke had 17 points, pulled down eight rebounds, and had three steals and assists, Dexter Martin 13 points and five rebounds and Sean Baird and Kenny Avent both had eight points for the Jammers.
At the end of the ‘brutal and eventful’ game Jammers’ manager Dennis Baird praised his players for a job well done.
He said the temporary walkout was a result of the double technical blown against his team by the referee.
“We thought it was wrong because two Guyana players bumped into each other on the charge and he blew it against us. It also meant that they (Guyana) would get the foul throws and possession of the ball, which was at a crucial time for us because we were down by five. The calls were blatant.
We came back to play the game because we wanted to play it out and we thought we could win."
Baird said Guyana needed a combination of its ‘A’ and ‘B’ teams to beat them but the Jammers will be back with a youthful team in the future and they will be here for business.
Guyana’s coach Robert ‘Bobby’ Cadogan was elated by the win.
“It was a total team effort and we played hard as a team. Our defence caused problems for the Jammers because they study everybody’s defences after the games; so what we did was to confuse their game plan. We played up and down and man to man in some games and it worked against them."
Cadogan said the game was physical.
“We stuck to the task, we rebounded well and we worked the ball on the offensive."
Referring to the temporary walkout by the Jammers Cadogan said, “In game one we were on the receiving end of the calls but we don’t make the referees an issue. We come out and we play hard, the referee is not a part of the plan."
Meanwhile in the opening game of the night, the female Guyana ‘A’ team made a sweep of the three-game tournament when they defeated their ‘B’ counterparts.
The ‘B’ team looked set for an upset in the first half as they narrowly led 22-21. However, they ran out of steam in the second half as the ‘A’ team won 41-37.
Natasha Alder had 16 points and Nayota Peters ten for the ‘A’ team while Nichola Jacobs seven points and Tamika Joseph, Delica Mayers and Somia Rodney all had six points apiece for the ‘B’ team.
Thursday’s action capped six days of intense action at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall, which had in its midst the Trinidad and Tobago male team.
The tournament was organised by the Guyana Amateur Basketball Federation (GABF)