Courts Pacesetters basketball team emerged victorious against Macaabees Thursday night at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall as the Georgetown Amateur Basketball Association (GABA) Open and Third Division Leagues continued but their 91-80 victory was marred by indiscipline from some of the team’s players which was sparked by claims of biased officiating.
Earlier in the evening Beepat Scorpions continued their winning ways as they outscored Maccabees to easily win their Third Division encounter 71-57.
Moments afterwards, Eagles suffered the same fate as they crumbled to the dominant Nets 43-67.
In the Third Division encounter, the Scorpions took it to Maccabees from the inception bringing out the big guns with Shelroy Thomas shooting his way to a whopping 28 points.
He was assisted by Seon Simon who scored 12 and Lance Gouveia who pitched in with 10.
It seemed like Maccabees were coming back into the game when they closed the gap to nine points with a three-pointer from Yannick Dundas (who scored five points) with some five minutes remaining in the final quarter, but the points difference quickly increased again.
Dominant Maccabees post player Samuel Thompson top scored with nine points.
In the second game of the night Nets opened the proceedings with a blazing 10-0 run and it seemed like Eagles were never going to take off as they remained scoreless for the first seven minutes of the opening quarter. Eventually they got it together and levelled the score by the end of the first quarter. But the likes of Nets players Fabian Johnson and Drumson McAully who scored 25 and 14 points respectively, took them to an amazing 29 points lead by the beginning of the fourth quarter.
Eagles’ Louis James scored 10 and Mark Wills’s seven points as they tried but could not prevail over the high soaring Eagles.
Controversy reigned in the final game which saw Courts Pacesetters defeating Maccabees in the Open division.
Poor officiating overshadowed what could have been a memorable battle between Courts Pacesetters and the up-and-coming powerhouse Maccabees.
Amidst the controversy, senior national player Naylon Loncke was given two technical fouls which enraged the player who started verbally abusing the referees. He left the team bench and went to the stands where he continued verbally abusing the referees. He then returned to the team bench and continued his assault on the referees and the table officials.
When asked for his views after the turmoil unfolded one Pacesetters player said: “The officials at the table once again had no control over the game as the referees continued to make preposterous calls.” The game was finally concluded after much debate between the players and officials with Travis Burnett and Royston Siland preventing Pacesetters from suffering another embarrassing loss by scoring 17 and 10 points respectively. Hodayah Stewart top scored for Maccabees with 25 points while Devon Cameron pitched in with 14. The Open and Third Division League continues tonight at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall from 6pm.
