Guyana’s junior national basketball team once again suffered a heart wrenching defeat to Suriname in the championship basketball game of the second leg of the Inter Guiana Games at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall last evening.
This time Guyana went down 70-74 in the final event on the IGG schedule which saw the host nation and their Surinamese visitors squaring off in the long-awaited rematch.
The majority of the Guyanese supporters in attendance were fully behind the home team but were left in a state of shock as Suriname clinched the title for the second year in succession, prancing in front of the home crowd with their nation’s flag. Guyana had lost the title to Suriname last year and their quest to regain it began on a positive note as they ended the first quarter of the game 13-4 ahead after a 9-0 run in the closing minutes of the first.
The Suriname camp was plagued by turnovers at both ends of the court in the first quarter.
Though the visitors had a much more productive second quarter, the fairly undersized home side, who were getting stopped or just not scoring on the inside, began dropping three pointers like raindrops.
Guyana’s Dave Plass opened fire and found nothing but net from outside the arc while Akeem Kanhai and Geoffrey La Rose each buried a shot from downtown as Guyana led 29-25 at half time.
Though trailing for two quarters, Suriname continued their relentless advances through the paint.
In the final period Suriname’s full court defence forced three quick turnovers from Guyana’s inbound passes pushing their lead to double figures (12) half way through the fourth quarter.
A critical three pointer from Guyana’s Richard Mohandatt brought the lead to a single digit 1 but Guyana lost their way when both captain and vice-captain Kanhai and Mohandatt were fouled out.
Guyana’s Dominique Douglas missed a three-pointer with Guyana trailing 73-70 and eight seconds left on the clock.
Mohandatt and Kanhai were the leading scorers for Guyana with 19 and 17 points respectively, while Plass scored 16.
Suriname’s scoring was led by Jean-Claude Smith with 21 points while Floyd Anches and Leandro had 14 points each.
