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National Stadium hosts first basketball final
– Diamond win YBG East Bank Conference
By Edison Jefford
The National Stadium at Providence added another sport to its itinerary yesterday when Youth Basketball Guyana (YBG) hosted the East Bank Conference Finals at the facility that Diamond Secondary School won against Covent Garden Secondary School.
One of the Teachers at Diamond Secondary School, Marcia King (centre) shows off the winning trophy with her team yesterday at the National Stadium Basketball Court.
The National Stadium, which is renowned as an international cricket venue and has added other disciplines such as track and field, rugby and football since its construction, hosted basketball on its tarmac, just inside the fence adjacent to the East Bank Carriageway.
Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports, Dr. Frank Anthony, had stated in the past that the tarmac, which acts as an endorsed Mecca for local and international concerts, parking lot and as recently, exhibitions, would have been sectioned off for outdoor sport events.
Yesterday marked the inauguration of such events with basketball being the first to benefit from the initiative. For the record, Diamond Secondary School defeated Covent Garden Secondary 27-21 to advance to the National Schools Basketball Festival (NSBF) Championships.
Alvin Castello took over the game for his school in the second half after his rival ‘go-to-guy’ on the opposing Covent Garden, Joel Semple, had posted a serious threat in the first half. For all his efforts, Castello was adjudged Conference MVP and Leading Scorer.
He dropped 22 of the teams 27 points, most of which came in the last half of a game in which he scored six consecutive points that put his team up 16-13 after Diamond had trailed 10-13 at half-time. Castello was principally responsible for his team’s momentum.
After his surge, with support from team-mates, Semple had single-handedly regained the lead for Covent Garden, 21-19 with about five minutes left in the game. However, Castello banged one in from the paint and that seemed to frustrate the Covent Garden unit.
It was principally the final nail in the coffin as Covent Garden dropped arms and essentially left a raging Diamond team to run away with the win, their second against similar opponents in the East Bank Conference, which was the last before Friday’s NSBF Championships Opening.
All the winners from the various Conferences across Guyana will descend in the City at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall to compete for the National Schools’ Basketball Championship. According to YBG President, Chris Bowman, the NSBF Championships should run for approximately two weeks.
Banks DIH, Digicel Guyana Inc. and Beharry under its Champion are among the major sponsors of the 2011 NSBF Championships.
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