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Georgetown seniors face foes from Linden
By Edison Jefford
Darcell Harris
Stephon Gillis
Reversing the course of history is never an easy task, but that is what Georgetown will try to do tonight when the senior All-Star basketball team takes on defending champs Linden in a keenly contested battle for the coveted title. Linden has won the Beepat’s Scorpions’ Senior All-Star Championships for the past three years and there is no way that the team from the Mining Town is going to turn up and just surrender their dominance to the Capital City. From the initiation of the All-Star selection process Linden made it clear that they will be selecting their best players for the event. Coincidentally, half of their best players average around 6’3” in height for a threatening combination.
Senior national centre from Kings, Jason Alonzo is about 6’5” and could be a frightening presence in the middle for Linden. The centre may not contribute a dozen points but he is aware of his role with a leading block shot average.
The player knows that his defensive presence is one of the Linden’s major factors in what can be anticipated as one of the most gruelling battles for the title as opposed to last year when Georgetown was blown away from the first whistle.
Forward, Dwayne ‘Sugar’ Roberts, will offer the right combination of aggression coupled with defensive presence to Alonzo. His skill, basketball brain and definite athleticism will be a problem for Georgetown in their pursuit.
Roberts’ inside and outside game often separates him from many other players; he has the tools to destroy Georgetown-a team that will most likely attack him mentally, which is an area that they can gain an advantage against him.
‘Sugar’ is about 6’4” and Neil Marks, playing in the same position, has approximately the same height. Marks has a keen sharp-shooting game that further cements the combination for Linden. Their emphasis on height was deliberate.
Dwayne
Guard/forward, Marvin Hartman is also another big presence for
Rodwell Fortune
Linden in the front court and will bring his experience to bear in the title defence. Quincy Jones and Kevin Joseph cannot be excluded from Linden’s general purpose.
Those were the players expected make a huge impact on the game for Linden but the City side will know that there are loop holes that can be exploited. For instance, ‘big men’ are usually much slower in running the court than guards.
The Garden City has gone for their quicker players on their All-Star team in an attempt to counter the ‘big’ presence of Linden. Georgetown has included a few guards that can test the fitness of the major players in the Linden line-up.
Darcel Harris leads the way in that regard. The nippy pint-sized national point guard will look to play a running-game against Linden to effect wear-and-tear on the towers. Harris knows that he cannot risk a slow-paced game tonight.
The Ravens’ guard and captain has adequate support in that regard from Rodwell Fortune who is by any stretch of the imagination, a ‘little big man’. Fortune will get to the paint at the Sports Hall tonight then there will be ‘Showtime’.
Fortune is one of those creative guards that do the impossible with the basketball when he is given the chance. He will torment Linden’s big guys with his creativity and skill. There will be lots of appreciative exclamations from him.
Joining the frontline of guards will be Ravens’, Ryan Stephney and Pacesetters’, Stephon Gillis, who both have diverse functions that will come together for different purposes, aimed at tackling their first All-Star win since 2005.
Stephney has shown the necessary maturity with his jumper, ball distribution and general ball handling skills while Gillis will let the rubber fly once he is open. His task will be to shoot down the towers that will dominate the inside.
Georgetown has completed their go-to guys with the inclusion of three big men: Royston Siland, Ryan Gullen and Darren Thomas. Those three will attempt to match the presence of their Linden counterparts while the guards attack.
The game will generally be a balanced one since both teams have different strengths and weaknesses. However, an elegant display of the best senior basketball talents is expected when these two All-Stars teams collide at the Sports Hall.
The junior three-point shooting and junior dunk-out will precede the game. Digicel, Ansa McAl, Brunswick Sardine, Giftland OfficeMax and Dyna’s are the major sponsors of the Beepat Scorpions Seventh Annual All-Star Weekend.
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