Plaisance Academy sends GTI packing- Marian Academy rob UG of offence

By Treiston Joseph

With Plaisance up by one point in the final two minutes, Nikkoloi Smith drove the middle of the lane to put Plaisance Academy up by three points, starting a scoring surge to give the East Coast school a 42-33 win over the Government Technical Institute (GTI) when the National School’s Basketball Festival (NSBF) continued at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall on Tuesday evening.
With the game 34-33, and the ball in the hands of Smith signaling an isolation play, his first step beats his defender without much effort as he heads to the rim to finish a smooth lay- up with 1: 36 minutes to play.
Two possessions later with two full court outlet passes from Smith after hoarding the defensive rebound Plaisance Academy are suddenly up by nine points with 16 seconds left in the game as GTI watched the close game slip through their hands, along with their hopes of even reaching the quarter-final.
A close game throughout, both teams played isolation basketball while using the pick and roll in the fast-paced and physical game in the paint.
However, it was Smith’s clutch drive in the final two minutes that changed the tide of the game along with his rebounds that started a 9-0 run for Plaisance.
Smith dropped a double-double, scoring 16 points while collecting 12 rebounds to lead Plaisance Academy to their first win in the final leg of the tournament, which is sponsored by Digicel, Beharry Group of Companies and Banks DIH. Kelvin Yorrick had 10 points to assist Smith while Dwight Gray was the only player for GTI with double figures with 12.
Meanwhile Marian Academy put on their sticky gloves as they picked apart the University of Guyana with 20 steals, grabbing a 31-23 win over the tertiary institution.
Marian, playing with their well organised system, looked to pass the ball for the easiest shot available while reverting to their 2-3 zone defence on the other end of the court.
However, UG’s style of pushing the ball on offense resulted with Marian breaking their zone defence at times which allowed their star guard Dominic Vincente to utilise his vision and defensive skills set to pick off the UG players; he ended with seven steals.
With Marian picking up 20 steals compared to UG’s nine, UG were never able to stay afloat against the well coached team.
Dale Beresford ended the night for Marian with 10 points and four steals while Vincente, along with his seven steals, added nine rebounds and six points.
Kwakwani Secondary had another outstanding game as they routed Guyana School of Agriculture (GSA) 55-28.
Kwakwani dominated the painted area while hitting the occasional dagger from downtown. GSA had no offensive response for Kwakwani or the defense of Kwakwani.
GSA, to their own detriment, put the ball in the hands of their star guard Emmanuel Archibald too often who scored 18 of GSA’s 28 points. But once he was double teamed GSA offense became horrible to watch.
Meanwhile, Ron Meredith and Shafeik Thomas each had a game 16 points to lead the defending champions to their second straight win in the final leg of the tournament.
In the under-17 category, St Roses High School dominated Brickdam Secondary 47- 21.
Nathan Howell and Anfernee Jervic scorched Brickdam for 17 points apiece while Joshua Lee had nine points for Brickdam.
The final under-17 game of the evening saw President’s College (PC) defeating New Amsterdam Multilateral Secondary School (NAMSS) 27-19.
Sherland Gillis had eight points and eight rebounds for PC while Fileen Anton had five points and five rebounds for NAMSS.