By Kiev Chesney
Travis ‘Cook-up’ Foster re-heated at crunch time to score five of the six points in overtime (OT) as the players from the Neal and Massy Group of Companies stunned Barama Industries’ players 34-28 in the Inter-Organisation final last Monday evening at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.
Foster led all scorers in the final with 14 points and was rightfully adjudged most valuable player of the competition organized by the Maccabees and Beepat Scorpions Basketball Club.
Barama started smoothly and were large and in charge leading by as much as eight points in the first half of the 20-minute game.
However, the N&M players did not panic but looked to the experience of Pacesetters’ forward Royston Siland who scored eight points and came up big down the stretch in the low post.
Siland scored four unanswered points in the last two minutes of the game to bring his team within three points of Barama.
In an attempt to run the clock the Barama players dribbled and passed the ball around aimlessly in their backcourt but N&M’s Frank Belle came up with a huge steal with less than 15 ticks on the clock.
The N&M players including Belle, who is known for his high percentage three-point shooting for the Nets, tried to tie the game with a few unsuccessful attempts from three-point range, but with 5.8 seconds, N&M got one more chance with their possession to inbound.
Just then, an unlikely candidate for the last shot in the form of national rugby player Peabo Hamilton received the inbound pass, dribbled twice and drained the three-pointer to send the game to overtime.
After the game Hamilton told Stabroek Sport, “We were nervous in the final seconds and I remember thinking that we can’t come so far to lose, but when we got that last possession, all I was thinking is catch and shoot.”
Hamilton’s dagger seemed to drain every ounce of energy from the Barama players and they were unable score any points in overtime.
Foster, however turned the heat a notch higher in OT, scoring the first four overtime points coming in the form of a tough sky-hook from baseline and a runner in the face of two defenders that kissed the glass and scorched the net on its way down.
Trevor Profitt, Shane Lewis and Byron Pearson were the main scorers for Barama, adding seven, six and five points respectively.
The earlier rounds of the competition saw teams such as Republic Bank, Bank of Guyana, Banks DIH, the Guyana Fire Service, the Guyana Defence Force Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T) and Digicel Guyana competing.
If you were wondered, whether the two telecommunication companies clashed on the court, the answer is yes and the ‘Blue Power Ballers’ prevailed 31-20.
