Recently-sponsored Ravens basketball club survived a 48-47 scare against Demerara Panthers on Sunday evening as play in the Guyana Amateur Basketball Association’s (GABA) Brydens Second Division League continued at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.
Playing their first game after announcing their sponsorship with Dyna’s Embroidery two Sundays ago, Ravens enjoyed a come-from-behind one-point victory, even though some of their key players were absent from the roster at game time.
Ravens started with their secondary unit, which consisted of many of their third division players.
The Panthers defence put pressure on Ravens ball-handlers Biniam Norton and Antoine Sanchez early to force turnovers and eventually gain a 11-4 lead.
Panthers continued to flourish and led by 11 points with 5:31s remaining in the first half as they had already scored two-thirds of their final score in the 41-point blowout against the Junior Elites last weekend.
Ravens coach Lugard Mohan eventually looked to his more experienced players, in Kevin Lawrence and Seraiah Clarke who finished with 15 points, for an answer at the end of the first half.
Ravens equalled the score at 25 as they got much productivity from Clarke in the low post, while the mere presence on centre of Carey Griffith created many opportunities for small forward Devon Bacchus.
Bacchus, who ended with a game-high of 16 points, played a dynamic role, slashing, penetrating and scoring on put-backs to put the Ravens up in the second half, proving to be Ravens’ answer for Panthers’ Yannick December who ended the game with 15 points.
December ignited to score most of the Panthers’ points in the second half, but good ball movement from Lawrence gave the Ravens post players better looks, converting most of them to take a 42-37 with 7:24s remaining.
December would re-ignite again and bring the Panthers within one point with 1:31s remaining. December was then fouled on the ensuing position and hit two clutch free throws to give his team the advantage with just over 30 seconds remaining. Ravens then regained the lead as Lawrence delivered a precise entry pass to Clarke in the low post who manoeuvred through the Panthers’ defence, drawing a foul and making scoring the tough shot the process. Although Clarke missed the free throw, Panthers could not score in the final 12 seconds and saw themselves trailing at the end of regulation for the third straight week.
In the first game of the evening, the Pioneers, who are yet to claim victory in this league, fell to the Nets 50-72.
Joe Ifill and Drumson Mc Caulay led the way for the Nets with 16 and 20 points respectively. Rayad Overton and Adrian Hooper managed to add 19 and 16 points respectively for the Pioneers in the absence of some of their key players.
