Guyanese men finished 11th at FIBA 3x3 AmeriCup

Guyanese men finished 11th at FIBA 3×3 AmeriCup

Nov 09, 2022 Sports

– Women’s team placed at the bottom of the table

By Rawle Toney

Kaieteur News – When the curtains came down on the FIBA 3×3 AmeriCup over the weekend in Miami, Florida, the country’s men’s team ended 11th out of the 18 national teams on show at the FTX Arena.

Things weren’t as good for the women’s team, which failed to secure a win and finished 12th place out of the 13 teams at the November 4-6 tournament.

Team Guyana at the FIBA 3×3 AmeriCup in Miami, Florida (L-R) Shelroy Thomas, Nikkoloi Smith, Delroy James and Gordon James.

The James brothers, Gordon and Delroy, Shelroy Thomas and Nikkoloi Smith, were placed in the tournament’s qualification round with Haiti, Ecuador and Aruba, where they had to finish on top to advance to the main draw.

The Guyanese men had a sensational display in basketball’s shortest format, playing undefeated in their run, where they outplayed Aruba (20-14), Haiti (19-17) and Ecuador (13-12).

In the other round, Guyana pushed on to play Mexico and Canada where a win would’ve placed them in the quarter-finals.

Against the Mexicans, Guyana went down 15-16 in a dramatic game that went down to overtime.

Facing Canada, Guyana showed little flight in their 9-21 defeat, as Delroy James had told Kaieteur News that the team was deflated from their loss to Mexico.

In the men’s tournament, Guyana finished with a total of 76 points in five matches, with an average of 15.2 points per game.

Delroy James, the AEK Athens talisman and pro-baller, finished as the top-scorer for Guyana in the tournament with 26 points. Bounty Colts point guard, Shelroy Thomas, piled in 21 points.

Things didn’t go so well for the women’s team of Kesann Charles, Tamara Hunter and Kennesha Leacock.

Unlike last year when they had to play through the qualifying round, Guyana featured in the main draw but was hammered by Colombia (3-21) and the USA (2-21).

The second edition of the FIBA 3×3 AmeriCup tournament was won by USA’s men’s and Canada’s women’s sides.

In the men’s category, the USA successfully defended their AmeriCup title after defeating Puerto Rico in the final (21-18).

The number one 3×3 player in the US (and 27th in the world) Kareem Maddox had a game-high nine points in the final.

Former college star and NBA player Jimmer Fredette scored the gold-winning two-pointer. His teammate Canyon Barry was named MVP of the competition after leading the USA in scoring in Miami.
In the women’s category, Canada won their first AmeriCup title after beating Brazil in the final (15-11).

The Women’s Series winner and Final MVP, Michelle Plouffe, led all players in scoring in the title game with nine points and added yet another MVP silverware to the trophy cabinet.

Exciting, urban and innovative, 3×3 is inspired by several forms of streetball played worldwide and is considered the world’s number one urban team sport. Steered by FIBA, games see two teams of three players face off on a basketball half-court.

It was played successfully for the first time in an international competition at the 2010 Youth Olympic Games in Singapore and since then has benefited from the launch of a yearly city-based FIBA 3×3 World Tour and national-team FIBA 3×3 World & Continental Cups.

On July 24, 2021, 3×3 made its Olympic debut at the Tokyo Games.