Latest update September 4th, 2026 10:24 AM
Charlestown become first semi-finalist
–as schools’ basketball contest heats upBy Edison Jefford
Chris Bowman had all his hopes of an unlikely final four berth in the schools’ basketball championships dashed when Naylon Loncke’s Charlestown Secondary School handed his Marian Academy a handsome beating yesterday.
Tamara Hunter
Charlestown thrashed Marian 33-18 to become the first team through to the semi-finals in the National Sports Commission-sponsored schools’ basketball competition in progress at the renowned Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.
Bowman had previously told Kaieteur Sport that he will get to the quarter-finals, which he did, but once there he went further to predict making the final four cut that Charlestown’s Orison Amsterdam dashed with 10 points.
Orison Amsterdam
Taquain Vieira was again the top player for Marian Academy with 10 points, which told the story of a struggling offensive team. In fact, Marian merely scored seven points in the last 20–minute half of the deciding game.
Charlestown converted successfully in the initial ten minutes of the first half consequence of Marian Academy’s high turnover rate. In the process, Charlestown took a 9-3 lead with only five minutes before half time.
However, a late surge from Marian, the team that brought second in their group, helped in an offensive run that led them to within one point 11-12 of Charlestown’s score at the break, which kept them alive in the game.
Credit to good coaching from Loncke, who recognised he had a size advantage and chose to play most of his ‘big men’ in the second half. The tactic forced those players on the foul line as Marian’s only alternative was to foul.
With Marian struggling to defend the bigger players and to convert on possession, things began to look steep for the team as Charlestown raced to a 25–11 points lead with only five minutes remaining in the game.
The surge that was evident in the first half re–emerged in the second half but it was too late for Marian to stage a serious comeback after Charlestown had grown in confidence and was quite content to use the game clock.
Charlestown
“We played better against Bishops. Maybe the guys are now getting used to playing so many games,” Loncke told Kaieteur Sport after the game, adding that he will work on the team’s collective defence ahead of the final four.
In the female competition, Charlestown’s females demoralised Saint Stanislaus College with a heavy 46–8 points win. Tamara Hunter scored 24 points while Tameka Kerr added 10 points to lead Charlestown’s offence.
Results from the other male quarterfinal game between Guyana’s Technical Institute and Central High School were not available up to press time yesterday.
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