Jordan Alphonso made a cut to the rim, received an inbound pass, made a clutch shot as time expired to give Guyana a 60 – 58 win over Aruba in the final game of Sunday night’s action in the Caribbean Basketball Confederation (CBC) under-16 championships at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.
Moments before becoming his team’s hero, Alphonso was fouled and went to the line to shoot two with 11.1 seconds on the clock, but, the 14-year old flunked the two free-throws.
Alphonso ended with 17 points and 13 rebounds to cap off his impressive performance with the double-double.
Kevon Wiggins contributed 16 points and 16 rebounds as well to help Guyana in the win.
Scoring for Aruba came from Leonardo Winterdal who had 19 points and Quentan Milton was the next best scorer with 10 points.
Earlier, the game opened with Guyana going on a 12-4 run much to the applause of the fans in attendance as they utilize their half-court offence to perfection with a number of back door picks for some easy mid-range jumpers that tickled the twine.
Guyana’s ability to gain second chance buckets was also a big part of their early first quarter lead with Jordan Alphonso being the primary glass eater.
With a 17-13 first quarter lead, Guyana was unable to keep their momentum with constant turnovers while their offence reach a stagnated state with a few possessions ending in a shot clock violation or a last second heave to beat the clock.
To Aruba’s credit their stellar full court press and traps forced Guyana into some bad passes and were able to get out on the break for buckets at the rim.
Aruba’s strong second quarter was punctuated with a game-tying three to end the first half with both teams locked on 30.
The third quarter for both teams was a struggle with defence playing a major part of the period that saw neither team scoring in double digits for the quarter.
However, Guyana was able to go into the final period with a three-point lead with the score on 39-36.
The fourth saw both teams coming out hot trading threes but its was Guyana’s feisty defence that allowed them to pull of the win
