The University of Guyana (UG) had to fend off a spirited second half attack from Linden Foundation before they eventually edged their way to a 34-31 points win to mark their third consecutive victory in the National Schools Basketball Festival on Wednesday at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.
The evening’s closely contested encounter injected excitement into the crowd which had witnessed mostly straightforward match-ups earlier in the afternoon, and brought those gathered to their feet. The supporters were ecstatic, but to UG’s disadvantage the fans were mainly behind underdog Linden Foundation.
Linden Foundation compiled an early lead against their opponents who seemed to be feeling their way through the first half, allowing Linden some easy looks at the basket after they failed to net their scoring opportunities. This resulted in a few easy buckets for Linden to give them a 13-9 advantage at the end of the first half. The break noticeably did UG some good and they came out attacking, benefiting from a number of fast-breaks after Linden failed to convert and was often dispossessed after UG picked up some steals.
Even though the supporters were on Linden’s side, their centre Leron Jackman brought them to their feet in cheers after one of their many fast breaks was foiled by Mohandatt. Jackman took off in his captain’s trail and made no mistake, stuffing it down into the basket with both hands, setting the sports hall alight.
This shifted control of the lead and the university went racing ahead to a winning position halfway through the second half, but with the supporters on their side Linden Foundation took advantage of UG’s complacency and made a stunning comeback in the closing minutes, almost pushing the game into overtime. Linden was persistent in attacking UG’s paltry 32-30 lead as the clock wound down, but failed to get ahead after they squandered some much needed free throws and only managed to sink one from the lot they were awarded in the final 30 seconds.
The University of Guyana’s captain Richard Mohandatt had an off night with some early bricks, but managed to hit when his team mostly needed it late in the second half and closed-out Linden Foundation with two shots from the line.
Prior to the feature match-up School of the Nations suffered their third successive defeat when they went down to the Government Technical Institute 22-17 and Queen’s College suffered the same fate at the hands of St. Rose’s when their game ended 19-17.
Kwakwani came out on top once again with their 56-32 points win over Charlestown and Berbice crumbled to Silver City 72-37.
Meanwhile, Trust College rallied for their first win of the tournament when they ousted East Bank 31-21 and Saint Stanislaus suffered a whipping from Marian Academy in their under-16 encounter.
