ALBOUYSTOWN CARRY GEORGETOWN'S HOPE TONIGHT

ALBOUYSTOWN CARRY GEORGETOWN’S HOPE TONIGHT

Apr 29, 2010 Sports

By Edison Jefford

Hundreds of basketball enthusiasts in Georgetown are expected to turn out to the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall tonight to support the only City team that has a chance of reaching the Mackeson Super Ward Basketball Championship Final.
After North Ruimveldt’s surprise exit Sunday night when Linden’s Central Mackenzie defeated them in the first semi-final, Georgetown’s hope of having a team in the Final of the mega tournament now rest squarely on Albouystown/Charlestown.
Obviously the most dominant team in the inaugural nation-wide competition, the unbeaten Albouystown will face the other Linden team in the tournament, Christianburg-a team that is also unbeaten and cannot be underestimated.
An all-Georgetown final is out of the question with Central Mackenzie already through, but it is definitely too early to rule out an all-Linden final, which would mean that Linden will get the right to host the event at the Mackenzie Court.
However, that is maybe thinking aloud or farfetched. The game is still to be played where many factors that will be considered here will decide the outcome. What is certain is that a chance to play for $500,000 will motivate Christianburg.
But more than that, the team that largely comprise players from the current national champions, Wismar Pistons, and is based on the western half of the Demerara River in Linden, would want to be taken seriously in the game.
As a result, national centre, Nkossi Gurrick, who has certainly refined his game to include a lethal 15-foot jumper and smooth post moves, will look to dominate inside in an attempt to give his team all the chances they can get.
Gurrick has tons of experience and only recently returned from playing ‘ball’ in Trinidad and Tobago. He should be one of the biggest deciding factors tonight coupled with some of Linden’s best senior players as his supporting cast.
Quincy Jones, the leading garbage player in Guyana, who gets the points no one gets and the rebounds others ignore, is a definite problem for Albouystown. He will ‘play his heart out’ for Christianburg, which could give his team the edge.
Once Jones gets going, he will pull Trevor Profitt along. Christianburg’s problem is the depth of their bench, especially in the guard positions. They are fairly strong in the centre and forward positions with those players mentioned earlier.
But Nevin Grenville, the ball handler and distributer, will struggle under the defensive pressure of Trevor McCleod, Rodwell Fortune, Kevin Joseph and Akeem Kanhai, who’re all quality guards featuring for the Albouystown line-up.
Christianburg has to figure out what they will do on the front court because if ball distribution is stymied then Albouystown will get the defensive edge and as is basketball parlance-defence always win games as opposed to offence.
However, Albouystown also has their worry with Gurrick, but one of the things they are expected to do is use ‘big man’ Holisworth Casey to block out Gurrick using his body to much effect against the 6’5” national true centre.
With Gurrick taken care of on defence and a big default in the guard position, the Christianburg unit seem shaky. Those are areas that Albouystown’s Dwayne Roberts and Alwyn Bellamy will exploit effectively to pull off a win.
The bottom line is that Christianburg has the quality, which is why they are in the Final Four but they just falls short on the depth, meaning they have six players that have most of the work to do while Albouystown can easily rotate about ten.
For those reasons, Albouystown will enter tonight’s game as the favourites, knowing that the Garden City has high expectations of them. It is not a hope that they will easily toss to the gallows. Albouystown want to win this championship.