Latest update April 25th, 2024 12:59 AM
Jun 06, 2009 Sports
By Edison Jefford
The HJTV and Lens Craft Inter-Ward Basketball competition has seen many mismatches with the exception of two notable standout match-ups apart from the finalists. It has come down to this – the $500,000 Grand Finale begins tonight.
The two games that gripped fans that followed the tournament were the South Ruimveldt and Kitty/Campbellville contest and the North Ruimveldt and Albouystown/Charlestown semi-final duel that ended in three games.
Enthusiasts must be asking whether the North Ruimveldt versus Wortmanville/Werk-en-Rust final will repeat or surpass the keen rivalries seen in those games. Answers to their questions are rooted in an analysis.
North have the depth of a championship team, with Andrew ‘Mr. Dunk’ Ifill and
the guards Darcel Harris and Ryan Stephney providing the almost perfect top to bottom rotation that good coaches will easily balance for an advantage. The Ifill, Harris and Stephney triangular offensive threat provides the most difficult script for Wortmanville to read simply because Ifill can force his way to the wings, which would reduce his inside position to an effective swingman.
The swingman has the ability to play from point guard to centre (all five positions) and Ifill has that skill. Wortmanville are without a player to match Ifill, who has Rudy James and Damian Liverpool as effective role forwards.
Stephney and Harris are also problematic for Wortmanville because of their quickness on top of the key where they constantly aim for the dribble penetration that opens up Ifill or any other forward on both sides of the parameter.
North has the better all-round game, but struggle to understand their respective roles, which lead to fragmentation. Albouystown blew out North in the first semi-final game because they obviously lacked chemistry and cohesion.
However, when North put their game together as in the second and third, they are not only extremely entertaining to watch, but also very clinical. Wortmanville have to beat the defending champions with lots of teamwork.
Wortmanville remain the only team that have advanced to the final without major scares and that will definitely provide the confidence needed to win the best-of-three finals – but that alone cannot put them past North Ruimveldt.
Naylon Loncke has added inside plays to his parameter game, which is refreshing for the team but the Wortmanville captain needs his primary forward, Royston Siland to play a big role on both offensive and defensive ends. Siland has tremendous aerial ability but his opponents know that he is timid and therefore not a major threat, because he does not dunk and aggressively block shots. Siland does not send a clear ‘back-off’ message to opponents.
The national forward needs that aggression and versatility against Ifill, Liverpool and James – those three players are tough and they ensure that their defenders understand that they are tough. Siland also needs a jump shot.
Wortmanville are not too safe in the point guard position either. Aubrey Smith can provide the energy and moves to match Stephney and Harris, but when he is tired, Wortmanville have no perfect substitute. Smith is their only point guard.
Fortunately for them, Loncke and Triston Lake take up some slack in the shooting guard positions but Alex Gray cannot necessarily be considered a proper replacement for Smith because North’s point guards can take him apart.
Devon Cameron and Clement Brusche are the other forwards that are likely to impact the game for Wortmanville, but both of them are basically mismatches.
They have experience, but lack the versatility of Liverpool and James.
Wortmanville swept South Ruimveldt, a quality side, in their semi-final and it was South that defeated Kitty/Campbellville in one of the best games of the tournament. The central Georgetown team cannot be underestimated.
The point is that Wortmanville cannot match North on individual talent, but they are much better than North as a collective unit with one purpose.
The teamwork motto must persist for them to be a force in game one of the best-of-three final.
The preceding game will feature former senior national players against Guyana’s national junior players in a ‘settle-the-score’ cross generation battle.
The youngsters will be out to teach the ‘big men’ a lesson in modern basketball.
The Masters team features former national captain and Caribbean All-star, Lugard Mohan with Robert Cadogan, Ian Andrews, Mark Agard and Chris Douglas among others. Those players are all former national campaigners.
They come against the 2007 Inter-Guiana Games championship team that includes Travis Burnette, John Fraser, Jermaine Slater and Akeem Kanhai with others. The grudge game is expected to be keen if not hilarious.
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