From Treiston Joseph in Suriname
Guyana fell to Suriname Saturday evening when the male basketball competition of the Inter Guiana Games (IGG) continued at the Anthony Nesty Hall in Suriname.
Playing in their final game of the tournament, the locals were in a must-win situation after having lost to the French Guiana side in their opening match.
However the locals flattered to deceive going under to Suriname 74-86.
A win for the locals would have seen a three way tie for the title and the locals clad in red and white uniforms played intensely throughout the game.
Their 1-2-2 zone defence once again proved hard to penetrate as it troubled the Surinamese early in the game.
However, the creative offensive scheme set up by the Dutch allowed their players to score either from inside or to take the jump shots when available.
With the first quarter ending 18-21 in favour of the Dutch side, the Guyanese stepped up their play on the defensive end which allowed them to exchange the lead with the Surinamese on numerous occasions as the first half ended 39-41 with the Dutchmen on top.
Guyana came out of the locker room looking to score as they attacked the paint aggressively especially with plays from Richard Mohandatt, Nikolai Smith and Dominic Douglas.
Guyana finally broke away and opened up a lead looking as if they would put Suriname away easily.
However, this did not materialize as the Surinamese playing in all over white made a run at the end of the third quarter finishing off the quarter with a monster jam which brought the somewhat dull crowd into frenzy with the score on 63-62 in Guyana’s favour.
Playing with an awakened hostile crowd the Guyanese pushed hard for the win but faltered when attacking the rim.
Suriname duly took the lead which they never relinquished with the game ending 74-86 in favour of the Surinamese.
Richard Mohandatt top scored for Guyana with 16 points while Dominic Douglas and Nikolai Smith finished with 13 and eight points respectively.
Meanwhile the females lost their first basketball match-up to French Guiana 27-51.
Manager of the team Chris Bowman stated:”We can’t judge this team’s from their first experience because this is their first experience together as a team and they will go through a cycle for the next three years that will help them become better as players but I thought they did well and we are satisfied where there are at right now,” Bowman stated.
