The Guyana Police Force’s (GPF) basketball team pulled off a thrilling, last minute win against the Guyana Fire Service (GFS) in the final of the Inter-Services knockout basketball tournament which was held at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall on Wednesday.
The one-day tournament saw the lawmen defeating the scorching hot Fire Service team 27-22 in the fourth and final game of the competition which also included teams from the Guyana Prison Service (GPS) and the Guyana Defence Force (GDF).
The teams traded baskets for most of the game until the final 90 seconds of the closely-contested encounter when the restrictive Police defence caused the Firemen to commit costly turnovers at crunch time. The ‘boys in blue’ did well to ‘milk’ the clock during the final minute while cashing in on the final points of the game at the charity stripe to win the Inter-Services title.
Lance Corporal Kevin Allicock was the leading scorer in the final with 10 points and was given the Most Valuable Player award. Solomon Chin, twin brother of former Bounty Colts forward Desmond Chin, chalked up five crucial points for Police in the grueling defensive encounter.
Former Pepsi Sonics guard Jermaine Reid was the driving force behind Fire Service’s inspiring championship run but fouled out early in the second half of the final.
In his absence, Haslyn Hooper, former Panthers forward, tried unsuccessfully to lead the Fire Service team scoring six points while Walden Arther added five.
Assistant Superintendent of Police, Colin Boyce, said afterwards that he was impressed by the talent displayed during the tournament. Boyce also commended the players on their discipline and competitiveness. The former national sprinter said that he hopes that the tournament can be extended in subsequent editions having teams playing more matches rather than just the one-game knockout format that was utilized.
In their first game, Police defeated arch inter-service sporting rival the Guyana Defence Force 37-33 in an overtime nail-biter. Point guard Dauroen Adams was the key player in that encounter with a tournament-high 18 points for Police while Fire Service defeated GPS in their opening match 41-28. GPS was also beaten by GDF 42-47 in the third-place game with Phillip Earl and Jason Khan scored 13 and 12 points respectively while Allan Harry added eight for GDF.
Inter-Service competitions in other sports including volleyball, football and track and field will continue during the next three months. The largest activity is the Inter-Service Athletic Championships which will be held in September. GDF are the defending champions.
