The Anguilla Amateur Basketball Association (AABA) 2017 Tournament came to an end on June 17th 2017. For the 5th consecutive year, Shottaz were crowned the champs. The Shottaz went head to head with the Hoyas in a nail biting series, as both games went down to the wire. In game 1 both teams swapped leads until the final buzzer. The Hoyas had a 1 pt lead with 9 seconds left until the Shottaz hit a 3 to go up by 2 with 1 second remaining in the game. With only so little time, a desperation 3 was hoisted by the Hoyas, but fell short and the Shottaz stole Game One 58-56. Game Two we saw more of the same but the Shottaz once again remained poised and held on for the 67-61 victory and swept the series to become champions.
The 3rd place game was also an intense battle as we had the Raiders and Spartans facing off. Game one, the Spartans held a 2 pt lead with little over 1 minute left in regulation before the Raiders managed to tie it up. The Spartans, however, had one final shot at sealing the victory but their shot attempt came up short and the game went into overtime. In the overtime period, the Spartans only managed to score 3 pts to the Raiders 15 and lost the battle 83-71. In game 2, the Spartans seemed to have run out of steam, after the crushing Game One loss, as they fell to the Raiders once again 84-68, thus giving the Raiders the 3rd place trophy. Despite coming up short, we, the AABA, were extremely proud of the efforts by the Spartans team ( which comprises ALHCS players) and we do hope to see them back in the playoffs again next year.
Team MVPs were Jason Hodge of Shottaz, Ian ‘Tucker’ Connor of Hoyas, Rudy Webster of Outlaws, Aaron Gumbs of Spartans, Juan-Carlos Sanchez of the Dominicanos and Moises Bryan of the Raiders. The
League’s overall MVP was awarded to Jason Hodge.
Other trophies were presented for; Most Assists – Junior Rogers (Raiders), Most Steals – Michael Davis (Hoyas), Most Rebounds – Jason Hodge (Shottaz) and Most Points – Colin Harrigan (Shottaz)
We the AABA, would like to take this time thank all the sponsors, teams, referees and scorekeepers that helped to make this tournament a success. We look forward to working with you again to make the 2018 season an even bigger success. #OneTeam #OneDream
– Contributed
