The Georgetown All-Stars basketball team defeated the Linden All-Stars 87-79 to win the first ever schools’ All-Star game in the Guyana Secondary Schools Basketball Association’s (GSSBA)post season at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall yesterday. If there was an award for the most valuable player in the game it would have certainly been awarded to Central High School’s point-guard Travis Burnett who registered a game-high 25 points. Burnett played most of the game and had his way with the Linden defenders who were not familiar with his explosive and fearless style of play.
Utilizing their home-court advantage, Georgetown got out to an early lead, not even giving the visitors a chance to settle in as they raced to a 19-point lead before halftime.
Just when the game was beginning to look like a blowout the Linden All-Stars started to see offensive productivity from Orin Rose and Michael Turner which helped close the deficit to ten points.
In the second half, Georgetown gave their bench players a chance to take the floor while giving some of the starters a much needed breather. This proved to be a good decision as Terrence Patton displayed some instant offence when he sank a three-ball at a critical point in the second half to curb a Linden run.
Late in the game, when Linden trailed 54-60, the well-rested starters returned to the court and took charge getting their lead back above 10 points. Linden would eventually try one last come-from-behind attempt but they had to do so without the help of junior national player Akeem Kanhai who was sidelined after a Georgetown player landed on his right ankle while attempting a rebound.
Linden still managed to get within four points with five minutes remaining on the game clock and with the scoreboard reading 74-70.
However, Burnett proved himself yet again as a dangerous crunch time player as he burned four of the Linden defenders, drew the foul and scored a tough layout while remaining cooler than the other side of the pillow.
Burnett would eventually complete the three-point play to help Georgetown up system. Linden would not go away easily but their intensity seemed to be reduced when officials overlooked an obvious offence interference call. Travis Williams scored 12 points while Tutorial’s Michael Thompson 11 points for the victors.Rose, Michael Turner and Mervin Russel all scored 18 points while Kanhai managed to score seven points before he exited the game with an ankle injury.
Today, the most eventful school basketball tournament in recent times will come to a dramatic conclusion as number seed Cummings Lodge hope to finish the post season with a perfect record of 17-0.
In order to accomplish this unprecedented feat Cummings Lodge will have to get past Rose and the Linden Technical Institute in the GSSBA grand finale.
