Linden outclass Georgetown to win KLM title

Mar 26, 2012 Sports

By Edison Jefford
Linden kept its rich sport history alive Saturday night with a fascinating display of basketball craft that outclassed Georgetown on both ends of the court as they lifted the Kevin Lawrence Memorial (KLM) title at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.
The Mining Town survived a late offensive run from Georgetown after they had established a 20-point lead in the fourth quarter to eventually win the grudge game 65-55 that Ravens hosted in honour of the late shooting guard, Kevin Lawrence.

The mother of the late Kevin Lawrence, Norma Lawrence hands over the KLM title trophy to Linden’s Coach, Abdulla Hamid in the presence of some of the players Saturday night at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.

National centre, Shane Webster, who made his debut for Guyana at the Caribbean Basketball Confederation (CBC) Championships last year, was unstoppable with 21 points for Linden, and was awarded the Most Valuable Player (MVP) trophy.
It seems to be the dawn of a new era in the sport in Linden with former junior national players, Orin Rose and Chris Williams coming up big for their team; Rose had 14 points that included crucial clutch three-pointers while Williams added 12 points.
Lindener, Akeem Kanhai, who Georgetown has now adopted, scored 12 points while Travis Burnett, Jason Squires and Royston Siland added 10 points each as Georgetown struggled in a poor offensive display that loads of turnovers underlined.
Linden began on the defensive end of the court, forcing shot-clock expirations for Georgetown on their first two possessions with airtight defence. The early minutes of the game gave enough insight into what became prolonged offensive struggles for the City.
Webster powered his way into the paint and rolled the ball off the glass to give Linden a 7-2 lead then showed his versatility with a turn-around jumper after backing down Siland, but the Garden City persisted with a three-point jumper from Squires.
Usually it would have been national shooting guard, Stephon Gillis taking those early jumpers for Georgetown but Coach, Robert Cadogan was forced to restrict Gillis to the bench after he missed all his opening attempts. Gillis scored just eight points in the game.
The first quarter ended 11-9 in favour of Linden. Turnovers continued to plague Georgetown in the second period with Linden on 6-0 run that put them up 21-15 in the first five minutes. Linden made an interesting move as the starters were all rested for fresh legs.
Siland completed an inside move and Naylon Loncke faked his defender on the left then drove to the basket along the baseline to haul Georgetown to within two points of Linden; the scores were then levelled at 21 points with one minute left before halftime.
However, in 60 seconds of bizarre basketball, Georgetown’s defence broke down and Linden got the opportunity to score seven unanswered points, giving them a 28-21 advantage at the midway break. All-round it was two quarters of poor basketball from Georgetown.
Rose opened an offensive onslaught for Linden in the third period with a three-point jumper with the Mining Town continuing to build on its run.
Webster completed an ‘And1’ play, Williams nailed a three-pointer, and Quincy Jones knocked down an old-school baseline jumper to propel Linden to a 19-0 run that gave them a 40-21 points lead with three minutes left in the penultimate period that ended 47-31 with Linden in full control.
Steve Neils Jr. scored the next four points early in the final period of regulation time that helped Linden to the biggest lead of the game 51-31. The intensity of the game lifted and the half-filled Sports Hall saw the keen contest that underlines the Linden/Georgetown rivalry.
Georgetown employed the full-court press on defence, pressuring Linden from the in-bound pass and got immediate results. The pure scoring ability of Burnett came to the fore with Georgetown on a 20-7 offensive run that brought them to within seven.
Kanhai then buried two clutch free-throws to make it a three point game with two minutes left, but again the Georgetown defence collapsed, this time at a crucial stage of the game. Rose buried a huge three-point jumper as Linden went on to outscore their rivals 10-3 in the last minute and a half to secure the coveted KLM 2012 trophy.