The Giftland Office Max All-Stars eased past the GT&T IM2GO North Ruimveldt team by 15 points (70-55) as the Georgetown Inter-Ward tournament officially came to an end on Saturday evening at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.
After North Ruimveldt had successfully swept Wortmanvile/Werk-en-Rust in their best of three finals last week to retain their title and claim the $500,000 first prize, the organisers were forced by public demand to stage an All-Star game.
And, after 40 minutes of intense basketball, it was found that the champions were not invincible as they were perceived to be.
The initial stages of the game saw North Ruimveldt in total control of the game as once again Andrew ‘Mr. Dunk’ Ifill was the dominant force.
He entertained the thousands in attendance with some pinpoint shooting and gave the fist quarter highlight when he collected an offensive rebound in traffic and authoritatively slammed it home over the heads of almost the entire All-Star team as the crowd erupted into cheers.
That quarter ended 15-14 in favour of North.
It was obvious that the All-Star team was not meshing just yet but coach Naylon Loncke did an excellent job in rotating his players. However, North would continue with Ifill and Quincy Jones taking charge to end the half leading 35-30.
From the third quarter it was all about the All-Stars as point guard Steve Neils jr. rallied his troops who went into the final period up by five point (49-44).
The team finally clicked together and everyone knew then that it would take something dramatic for North to pull off the win.
With Neils in superb form at point guard and Jason Alonzo, Roberts and Royston Siland controlling the defence, the danger of the All-Star team was brought out.
The highlight of the game came in the fourth quarter when Ryan Gullen received a well timed alley-hoop pass from Neils on a fast break and made no mistake in slamming it home. The crowd exploded into cheers.
By this time, North Ruimveldt was already finding it hard to score.
Even their premier player had a rough time and he became victim of the biggest block of the game when Alonzo literally pulled him out of air as he attempted to ‘crown’ the six foot seven centre on a baseline two handed dunk.
The All-Star team out scored the champions 21-11 (70-49) in the fourth quarter to take home the winners purse of $100,000.
Everyone chipped in for the All-Stars but only Neils touched double figures with 13 points. He also grabbed eight rebounds.
Ifill, who was voted the tournament’s most valuable player (MVP) and best rebounder, scored a game-high 19 points, 13 of which he picked up in his team’s dominant first half. However he completed a double double since he pulled in 12 rebounds.
Quincy ‘Pragsy’ Jones was the only other North player to touch double digits with 10 points. Meanwhile in the Slam Dunk contest, Guyana Times sports reporter Kiev Chesney prevailed over favourite Tyron Hamid to take home the title.Chesney executed a two handed double grip cradle dunk in the finals reminiscent of the one Michael Jordan did to beat Dominique Wilkins in the 1991 NBA Slam Dunk championship.
