Gladiators powers Bartica among last 16 teams

Oct 18, 2011 Sports

-Demolition, Panthers reach second round in Berbice

The Mackeson Smooth Moves 3-on-3 Basketball Tournament stormed Bartica and Berbice last Sunday as patrons continue to show growing interest in what were thrilling rivalries in the East and West, respectively, of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana.
The regions hosted first round games in the inaugural competition for the first time since it was started three weekends ago in Linden. Gladiators stood out among the other teams, Bartica Bulls, Gully Squad, Sharp Shooters, Bullets and J-Warriors.
The Gladiators quartet that included, Adrian Kendall, Richard Gray, Dwayne Bowen and Reyon Moe played undefeated in their five games. The team not only won their group, but also claimed a $40,000 Zone-winner prize that goes to the team that wins a Zone.
Gladiators defeated Gully Squad 8-7; Bullets 5-3; Sharp Shooters 7-4 and Bartica Bulls 7-3 with a walkover J-Warriors. Gladiators’ captain, Bowen was ecstatic over the result and stated that he is anticipating another opportunity to showcase his team’s talent.
“This is more than just a normal win for us today; this will give us the chance to showcase what we have to offer (on the court),” Bowen said, adding that he is also elated that Ansa McAl, under its Mackeson brand, gave his community the opportunity to compete.
“We actually hope that this would be an annual event up here, and hope it would be bigger next year because three-a-side or not, we always want to showcase our talent to other people. None of us has ever played competitions outside of Bartica, just ‘scrubby’ so going to Linden will mean a lot to us” Bowen continued.

Gladiators’ Adrian Kendall, Richard Gray, Dwayne Bowen and Reyon Moe pose with the Mackeson Real Smooth models after winning the Bartica Group and $40,000 Zone prize.

He said that he is aware of the keen competition that exists in Linden, Berbice and Georgetown, but his team will not be daunted. Bowen believes that the competition has a ‘Showtime’ twist to it and his team will be turning up among the best units to compete.
Meanwhile in Berbice, Demolition, which includes Kirk Fraser, Carlos Crandon, Dellon Grant and Leroy Edwards, had a flawless day topping Group ‘A’ in their Zone. Panthers also advanced to the second round when the competition began in the Ancient County.
Demolition and Panthers were grouped with Hustlers, Cool Runnings and Scheme Dream and a packed house had also gathered to watch the teams compete.
In the first game of the day, they stopped Panthers 11-7; Scheme Dream 13–8 while reaching the 21-point cap against Hustlers (21- 3) and almost did the same when they defeated Cool Runnings 20–10 to end as the undefeated champions in their group.
Panthers’ only lost was to Demolition and they topped Hustlers 16–3; Scheme Dream 13–12 and Cool Runnings 7–4 to finish second in the group. The tournament continues on Wednesday at the Independence Boulevard Hard Court in Albouystown.