Plaisance Guardians defeated Eagles by an 82-61 score line in an U23 fixture when the Georgetown Amateur Basketball Association (GABA) League qualifying knockout tournament commenced on Friday.
Played at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall on Homestretch Avenue, Nduka Horatio led the East Coast of Demerara unit with a game high 24 points while the next best scorer in the win was Terrence Daniels with 21 points.
Similarly supporting in the victory with 12, nine and eight points respectively were Kelvin Yorrick, Malcolm Powder and Anton Fileen.
Kevin Higgins top scored for Eagles with 14 points while Rolston Richmond chipped in with 13 points.
Also contributing in the loss were Somesh Danram and Akesi Cave who netted 10 and six points respectively. The opening period of the match saw Guardians seizing early control as they outscored Eagles 22-9.
Horatio top scored in the period for Guardians with 10 points while Cave led Eagles with four points. Eagles reversed their fortunes in the second stanza, outhustling Guardians 23-9 to go into the half-time period marginally ahead at 32-31.
Danram and Richmond led the revival with six points each while Darroll Williams chipped in with five points. For Guardians, Yorrick was the primary threat with five points.
The back and forth nature of the contest continued upon the commencement of the third period as Guardians netted 22 points while reducing Eagles to 15 points to take a 53-47 advantage into the final stanza.
Daniels led Guardians with 10 points while Horatio contributed four points. On the other side, Richmond and Higgins netted five and four points respectively.
Guardians then closed out the matchup in the final period, netting an impressive 29 points while grounding Eagles to 14 points. Once again Horatio led the way with eight points while Powder, Fileen and Derick Critchlow supported with four points apiece.
For the losers, Higgins top scored with six points inclusive of two-three pointers. In the earlier programmed U23 fixture, Dynas Ravens defeated Melanie Patriots via the walkover route. Action in the event continues today at the same venue with a tripleheader.
In the opening fixture, the third seeded Colts will lock horns with the sixth seeded Pepsi Sonics in an U23 affair from 18:00hrs while the second fixture of the night at 20:00hrs will pit the seventh-ranked UG Trojans against the 10th-ranked Eagles in an Open Division match.
In the final Open Division match of the night at 22:00hrs, eighth-seeded Republic Bank Nets will oppose the ninth-seeded Pepsi Sonics in a Mandela Avenue derby.
On the third night of the tourney on Wednesday, the fourth-ranked Plaisance Guardians will faceoff against Knights in an Open Division fixture from 18:00hrs while the final match at 20:00hrs will pit the third-ranked Colts against the sixth-seeded Melanie Patriots in another Open matchup.
Upon the conclusion of the first round of knockout fixtures, the event will continue on Friday with three programmed matchups pending the results of the earlier fixtures.
