Ravens win second title in two weeks

Jan 08, 2013 Sports

By Edison Jefford
Same script, slightly different cast, but same result; Ravens won its second title in two weeks at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall Sunday night against the same opponent, Nets, who sacked coach Rundell Ramsey, hoping that its fortune would have changed.
It didn’t, and the result was a 61-52 points’ win for Ravens that handed the team Albert Bentick Championship trophy exactly two weeks after it lifted the Phillip George Legacy tournament title from Nets in a much closer game that was won in overtime.
Ramsey had led the Republic Bank-sponsored Nets to its first Division I title match two weeks ago, but did not get the honour of doing so in a second Division I final appearance. He watched from the bleachers

Ravens in celebratory mode swarm Albert Bentick (centre) and their championship trophy after winning their second title in two weeks at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.

as Nets again failed to win an elusive title.
Guard/Forward, Akeem Kanhai scored 20 points for Ravens with shooting guard, Ryan Stephney adding 10 points and forward, Jermaine Slater eight points. Forward, Drumson McCulley had 13 points for Nets with Mortimer Williams scoring 12 points.
Nets had defeated Pacesetters the night before for the second time in a major competition to get to Sunday night’s final, while Ravens had beaten Colts in the four-team playoffs among the best teams coming out of the Phillip George tournament.
The game started evenly with Nets taking a 6-2 lead as Ravens went small, starting with guards Stephney, Stephon ‘Penny’ Henry and Rodwell ‘Kobe’ Fortune against the bigger Nets that went with forwards, McCulley, Williams and Fabian Johnson upfront.
Stephney got Ravens offence going with a 15-foot fade-away jumper then penetrated for a layup to give them some momentum as the quarter closed 12-9 in favour of Ravens, which extended its lead to 16-9, continuing its run in the second quarter.
Darian Lewis responded for Nets with back-to-back layups, but Ryan Gullen’s baseline jumper ensured that Ravens held on to a 20-15 advantage five minutes before halftime. McCulley went to work with an And1 finish that cut the deficit to two points.
The Guyana Defence Force player then laid one off the glass after cutting baseline to equalise with three minutes left in the game. Lewis gave Nets a one-point lead, its first since the initial period, from the free-throw line before McCulley went to work again.
Another strong drive from McCulley extended Nets’ lead before veteran guard, Frank Bell nailed a jumper to cap a 10-0 run that put the team up 25-20 with two minutes to play before halftime.
Nets went up 28-22, but five unanswered points from the Ravens, including a three-pointer from Kanhai, ensured that it went to the break only down one point.
Nets went back to its ‘big men’ to start the second half, completely locking up the lane for Ravens, which gave the team a defensive advantage. However, Nets could not convert offensively, which allowed Ravens to regain a 32-30 lead with a baseline jumper from Stephney four minutes into the third quarter.
Kanhai made the sprinkling of spectators at the Sports Hall erupt into loud cheers when he drove off a fast break, faked three defenders in the air and released an underarm layup. It was showtime at its best as the scores drew level again at 38 points with two minutes left in the third quarter.
Henry landed a big three-pointer to help Ravens go up 41-38 as they finished well again, going up 45-40 after the penultimate period. Ravens then took a 51-40 lead, capping a 13-2 run in five minutes. Slater threw down a one-handed dunk after Stephney’s layup cleaned the rim to ensure that Ravens’ second half dominance was well established.
They went on to take their second title in two weeks and extend their bourgeoning record in the sport locally as perhaps the top team in Guyana.