Courts Pacesetters named Georgetown top club
… Nets deny them overall supremacy
By Faizool Deo
Guyana Chronicle
January 22, 2007
COURTS Pacesetters are officially Georgetown’s number one club. They finished with the most victories at the just concluded Georgetown Amateur Baketball Association (GABA) league.
Prior to the start of the league, GABA president Chris Bowman had stated that this competition would dictate the placements of the teams in Georgetown.
Pacesetters even though recording the most victories were unable to totally dominate the competition, given that the much improved Nets team sneaked in a victory.
Ravens, who lost one game against Pacesetters and had to forfeit one against Pepsi Sonics, finished second in the ratings while Nets sneaked into third place.
Pacesetters have dominated basketball for some time and have produced creditable players who were able to take the game to a higher level.
Their coach Robert Cadogan and chairman Dennis Clarke have been influential in mobilising good teams at every level.
But the wonder story has been the Nets team. Consisting of second division players, with little or no backing from the corporate community, they played their hearts out in the competition defeating some of the best teams.
The teams defeated were: Eagles, Bounty Colts, Beepats’ Scorpions, Pacesetters, Legends and a walkover victory from Plaisance Disciples, a third division side who entered the competition.
In the game on Saturday night, Nets controlled from the tip-off, and it took some effort from Pacesetters’ centre Royston Siland to carry his team ahead in the latter half (6:03 left 29-27), but Nets fought back.
The underdogs played excellent defence and ran the court hard even without last season’s top point guard Jermaine McAllister (out for the entire season) who was a powerhouse in scoring.
In the late fourth quarter, Naylon Loncke brought his team back to two with a pair of big three-pointers, but he made a bad pass in his team’s final possession and threw the game away as Nets claimed a 73-70 victory. Forward Stephon Gillis was way off target for the night, scoring seven points while missing numerous open attempts.
Siland finished with 24 points, while Loncke scored 16. For Nets, shooting sensation Mortimer Williams scored 18 points while Fabian Johnson added 13 and Travis Hudson and Sheldon Howell 10 each.
Prior to that game Sonics had defeated Maccabee 55-46.