Guyana will open their Central America and Caribbean Basketball Championships (CentroBasket) U17 tournament today against Caribbean champions The Bahamas in the Dominican Republic.
The team, which departed local shores yesterday, will be in action from 13:00hrs in what is a rematch of last year’s CBC Championship final on July 10, 2016. Guyana lost 84-57 at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.
In a brief comment prior to the team’s departure, Head coach, Lugard Mohan said, “We think that the only way that we could compete is by being aggressive on the defence. We did what we could with the time we had. Our preparation was based on conditioning, defensive mentality; that’s our game plan basically. I think we’re going to be at a disadvantage in terms of height, so that’s why we focused on our aggressiveness.”
Mohan added, “I think we’re 50% there and that’s one of the things we have to work on and that’s a work in progress, so when we get over to the Dominican Republic, we’re going to be looking at the last scrimmage against Colts which would’ve been a good test for some of the teams we’re going to be facing in the tournament.”
Mohan revealed that while the aim is to finish amongst the top three positions to qualify for the FIBA u18 championships.
He reiterated:“The biggest take from the tournament is development. Once you’re in basketball, you’re always a student, so development will be the biggest take from competing at the tournament.”
Following The Bahamas encounter, Guyana will face-off with Puerto Rico tomorrow at 15:00hrs before concluding the group round on Friday against Mexico from 15:00hrs.
The top two teams from each group will advance to the semifinal round. The Guyana team consists of Nigel Bowen, Tramine Brown, Kelmar Carmichael, Akeem Crandon, Shamar France, Roydon Glasgow, Jether Harris, Andrew Johnson, Jermaine King, Kevon Wiggins, Anthony Yanson and Jahleel Young.
On the management side, United States of America (USA) based Kenneth Avent will serve as the Assistant Coach, while Andrew Hercules and Jonas Anestal will act as the Manager/Assistant Coach and Physical Trainer respectively. They will return to local shores on Monday July 31st.
