By Treiston Joseph
An all-round team effort placed School of the Nations into the semifinal as they routed University of Guyana by 31 points when the Youth Basketball Guyana (YGB) and National Sports Commission (NSC) National Schools’ Basketball Championships/Festival continued Saturday evening with the Georgetown Conference at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall (CASH).
In a game that was close for the first two minutes School of the Nations looked like a unit on a mission as they distributed the ball superbly while playing lockdown defense which resulted in numerous fast break points that helped end the game 57-26.
Dino Choo-Wee-Man top scored for Nations with 13 points while Dylan Walker, Jonathan Pooran, Marvin Grenada and Dominic Nowel each scored eight points. Deval Wilson was the only hot hand for UG as he contributed 14 points and five rebounds to a losing cause.
Queen’s College however, was embroiled in their own bit of war when they came from behind in the final second to outlast Charlestown Secondary by one point.
Queen’s College took the floor and started the game in a show of over confidence, but was stunned by Charlestown as their players showed a fighting grit that saw halftime ending 13-8 in favor of Charlestown.
However, after being hit by a dose of reality, Queen’s College players came out in the second half with a sense of urgency but seemed not to get the better of the Charlestown defense in the early minutes of the second half.
But with less than a minute on the clock and Charlestown up by two, a drive to the basket from star guard, John Housty of Queen’s College got him to the free throw line after being fouled. He converted the two free throws to tie the game with 10 seconds left.
Queen’s College players kept their composure and came up with the ball that sent Jonathan Wrights to the line who converted one of the two free throws to put Queen’s up by one and eventually win the game 30-29.
Housty finished with 13 points and two rebounds while Wrights contributed seven points to advance Queen’s College to the semifinal.
St. Stanislaus withstood a late surge by the Government Technical Institute (GTI) to quality for the semifinal after the game ended 53-51.
However, the score line does not suggest the storyline of the game, as St. Stanislaus had GTI on their heels ending the half 31-18 and at one point in the second half leading by more than 20 points that resulted in the removal of St. Stanislaus big three of Neil Gordon, Lorenzo Bethune and Kevin Higgins who scored 13, 12 and eight points respectively.
Drexel Amsterdam led GTI’s surge with 19 points and five rebounds that brought the game to a five point lead in favor of St. Stanislaus that forced their big three back on the floor, but with amplified defense by GTI, a glimmer of hope appeared but soon disappeared as they rimmed out the buzzer beater that would have sent the game into over time.
Meanwhile, Marian Academy, who to date has not lost a single game, easily qualified for the semifinal after their blow out victory over Trust College that ended 63-34.
Once again Marian Academy proved to be the most fundamentally sound team in the Georgetown Conference with top notch defense and a killer’s instinct on offense. Dale Beresford, Stephon Josiah and Jonathan Beaton scored 13, 12, and 11 points respectively.
Dominic Vincente scored 17 points but was unable to marshal his troops to a potential fight back.
Marian Academy will meet Queen’s College in the semifinal while School of the Nations will take on St. Stanislaus College with the proverbial match-ups of the public schools vs. the private schools in both semifinals.
