9th Linden Secondary Schools U-19 Basketball Championships...Dryden pours in 42 points as ‘Multi’ maul LTI 102-32 after colourful opening

9th Linden Secondary Schools U-19 Basketball Championships…Dryden pours in 42 points as ‘Multi’ maul LTI 102-32 after colourful opening

Apr 17, 2013 Sports

Power forward Travin Dryden raked up 42 points as memories of when they were the much vaunted ‘Multi Maulers’ of the late s1970s and early 1980s were recounted when the Christianburg Wismar Secondary School, last year’s losing finalist, mauled defending champions Linden Technical Institute 102-32 at the start of the Linden Secondary Schools Under-19 Basketball Championship on Monday, following a colourful march past of the contesting schools at

Part of the action in the opening game between LTI and Christianburg Wismar Secondary on Monday.

the Mackenzie Sports Club Hard Court.
This lone fixture on the first day of the 9th edition of this championship, came after glowing remarks were made by the dignitaries who attended the opening ceremony and who said they were impressed with the way the tournament had been sustained over the years by Victory Valley Royals and now placed in the hands of LABA for continued progress of the game, particularly at the school level.
Among those who acknowledged what had been achieved in the past by the Victory Valley Royals basketball club was Regional Chairman Sharma Solomon who told the players of the need to excel both academically and playing the sport as he made reference to national all purpose guard Akeem Kanhai, whose portrait hangs over the playing facility on a huge billboard, a product of this championship who was a fine example for all to follow from his academic achievements which is matched by his on court skills.
Interim Management Committee Chairman Orin Gordon, who tossed the ball to start the opening game, was in high praise of the tournament and also said he looked forward to it building itself as among the most talked about tournaments in Guyana.
Greetings were also made by the Linden Town Week Committee Chairman Eon Halls, who was pleased that the tournament continues to be part of the annual anniversary celebrations of the town, while Senior Physical Education Officer in the Ministry of Education Lindley Langhorne, advised that the tournament be one which demonstrated the discipline among the players and schools and that time was a key factor for any successful championship.
President of the LABA Haslyn Graham thanked the sponsors both locally and overseas who have continued to contribute. He singled out former LABA president Collin Aaron who was instrumental in having Two Brothers Gas Station and the Slingerz Family fund the uniforms for the schools and Linden Alphonso who continues to engineer things from the United States.
Graham mentioned plans by the association to also look at having competitions for the Under 17, 15 and 13 levels to ensure the players are properly schooled fundamentally as scholarships will come their way once a proper programme is implemented in the school system for which the association will play a major role.
In the lone game Dryden was ably supported by teammates Terron Welch who scored 22 points, Mario Batson 18 and Edmar Semple 11. For the losing LTI, Akeem Morrison got 11points and Ian Williams eight. The tournament is being played in an initial round robin format with the four top schools from the six moving through to the semifinals.
The tournament will continue this afternoon with another double header at the MSC hard court starting at 14:30hrs and the second game at 16:00hrs.