The Anguilla Amateur Basketball Association ended the 2015 annual LIME sponsored National League Basketball Tournament on with what has been deemed the most entertaining finals seen by a crowd in years.
The tournament which began on April 18th 2015, started with a total of 7 teams from all over the island. These teams include The Shottaz, Hoyas, Raiders, Los Dominicanos, ALHCS Spartans, Knights and Outlaws. Although the team count was smaller than that of the past, the tournament was nothing short of entertaining with a number or spoilers and surprises. Special mention is to be made regarding the ALHCS Spartans, who this season proved to many of the older players that they were a definite force to be reckoned with managing to even defeat the reigning champions early in the season.
The playoffs started on June 12th, with the top four teams playing best of 3 series. They were in order of seeding Hoyas, Shottaz, Raider & Republica Dominicana. After the first round the perennial favorites Shottaz and Hoyas emerged victorious to face each once again for the championship.
After unfortunately forfeiting game 1 on Friday evening, Raiders were faced with a must-win situation to force a game 3 on Sunday. They met the challenge and narrowly escaped with a 70-67 win over the Republica Dominicana team lead by Crefton Gumbs’ monstrous 27 points & 18 rebounds. Miguel Belen led the Dominicanos with 15 points & 16 rebounds in their loss.
In game 2, Hoyas were faced with the same situation after losing game 1 on Friday evening by 11 points. With a narrow 2 point lead at halftime, Hoyas used a 16 point run in the 2nd half to lead by as much as 14 points.
The lead was cut down by the 3 point shooting of Randy Webster who finished the game with 20 points including 6 3 pointers. With just over a minute to play it still appeared as if we were heading towards a game 3 as Hoyas clung to a 5 point lead and possession of the ball. Unfortunately for Hoyas while trying to run out the clock a bit, Shottaz managed to come up with a steal and another 3 pointer brought them within 2 points. Shottaz quickly fouled with 12 seconds remaining and after Hoyas missed both free throws, Shottaz were left with 1 play to complete their comeback victory. A drive by Javille Brooks resulted in a miss however Jason Hodge managed to get the offensive rebound, scored the putback while getting fouled leaving the score tied with Hodge having 1 free throw to give his 2 their 3-peat championship. Up to that point Jason had made only 1 out of 9 free throw attempts that night however with the championship on the line, he sunk the free throw to deliver his team to victory.
Awards were given out afterwards as Shottaz left with the championship trophy and Javille Brooks left with the Finals MVP trophy after averaging 16 points, 13.5 rebounds & 3 assists to lead his team to their 3rd consecutive championship. Hoyas left with the 2nd place trophy & regular season championship. 3 individual awards were also given out as Tristin Rogers of Outlaws won Best Scorer, Retde Oliver Moises left with Best Rebounder, and Ian Connor took the award for most assists. Team MVPs are still to be announced.
The AABA wishes to extend a thank you to all coaches, captains & players in this year’s tournament from the active involvement. A special thank you is also extended to the tournament sponsor, LIME for their continuous generous contribution to the development of basketball among the communities in Anguilla.
– Press Release
(Published without editing by The Anguillian newspaper.)