By:Curtis Morton
The final game of the 2017 edition of the Malcolm Guishard Basketball league, was played at the Church Ground hard court, on Tuesday 21st November.
A fair sized crowd was on hand to witness the final encounter in the best of three series between defending champions, CG Massives and former champions, CG Rebels.
Each team would have won one game each, to set up the intriguing finale and much was expected of this final game.
The first quarter gave an indication that it would be another thriller, with the score poised at 18 to 15, in favour of the CG Rebels.
However, the experienced CG Rebels players, utilized a strategy of playing their trusted and tried, five old guards, all the way through the entire match, with the CG Massives on the other hand, utilizing a strategy of regular substitutions, ensuring that there were always fresh legs on the court.
However, the experienced CG Rebels players started pulling away in the second quarter and continued with the dominance into the second half of the game.
In the final moments of the last quarter, the CG Rebels team, recognizing the fact that they were holding a healthy lead, brought on some of their young players, for the first time in the game.
At that precise moment, Coach Gene Amory sent for the champagne from his vehicle.
When the final whistle was blown, the score line was an imposing 86 to 56 in favour of the CG Rebels.
It was truly an emphatic win and one which Coach Amory indicated that he will treasure immensely, because he was not sure how much longer his old guards would be able to continue and with Jenerson BUJU France, hinting that he would retire after this game, it may well be the end of the dominant CG Rebels era.
Captain Kirt Herbert stated that his team sat out last year and CG Massives won and they had ‘too much chat,’ so this year, his team came back for what was rightfully theirs.
Match summary:
First quarter Rebels 18 Massives 15
Second quarter Rebels 28 Massives 19
Third quarter Rebels 26 Massives 10
Fourth quarter Rebels 14 Massives 7
Half time score 46 to 34 in favour of CG Rebels
CG Rebels 86 points
Royden Browne 14 points; 15 rebounds
Donford Wilkinson 21 points; 2 rebs
Kirt Herbert 13 points; 7 rebs
Jermie Jeffers 17 points 2 asst
CG Massives 56 points
Norris Williams 11 points; 9 rebs
Matthew Harding 12 points; 9 rebs
Robert Morton 12 points; 2 rebs
Dwayne Warner 9 points; 5 rebs
Malcolm Guishard Basketball 2017 league champions-CG Rebels