It was sweet revenge forthe Victory Royals when they defeated Dyna’s Ravens 56-54 last Thursday in Linden when the two clubs met in what was dubbed a grudge match at the McKenzie Sports Club hard Court.
The last time the two sides met, was in the finals of the prestigious Next Level Entertainment (NLE) basketball tournament, where Ravens dominated their opponents.
At half time, the city side led 39-34 but the Royals used their home court advantage to its fullest and clawed their way back into the game in the second half, where the two sides went head-to-head.
But the Ravens felt the effects of playing without their mentor and coach Lugard Mohan and made several blunders which cost them the game. And with the Royals realizing that they were weak mentally, constant ball pressure and the good offense saw them home.
Orlando Glasgow shot a game high 12 points while Anson Durant and Alwyn Rodney scored 11 and 10 points respectively for the Royals. However, their usual go-to-guy, Dwayne ‘Brown Sugar’ Roberts, had a relatively bad night on the floor as he could only mustered six points, but he played a vital roll in their defensive line.
NLE Most Valuable Player (MVP) Ryan Gullen and flashy point guard Ryan Stephaney were the only two players to touch double digits for the Ravens, each scoring 10 points.
Meanwhile in the supporting game, Odly Alleyene’s game high 34 points was not enough to help GT Ballers from going down 65-69 to the Kashif and Shanghai Kings.
The game was closely contested from jump-ball but it was the kings who held the slight advantage at the end of the first half as the score board red 36-34 in favour of the victors. This would continue through the second half but the former top club refused to be bitten at home.
National point guard Steve Neils Jr had 21 points inclusive of four threes while his side-kick Marvin Hartman also came up big scoring three threes in his 19 points. Dale Williamson and Curtis Gravesandy also got into the double figures, scoring ten points each.
Alleyene stroked seven threes in his well player 34 and was supported by Rockclif ‘Rocky’ Joseph who had 14 points.
The GT Ballers team which is made up of overseas based Lindeners who are home for the Linden Town Week.
