By: Charleston Gladden
On Friday night, Feb 25, Cayo Western Ballaz hosted their bitter rivals from the west, Belmopan Bandits, at the Sacred Heart College Auditorium. It was the first of two matchups between both teams. As history tells the tale, Belmopan had only captured one of three meetings against Western Ballaz; when coming to their home turf.
As the first quarter went underway, it was an evenly scoring match in the entire quarter as both teams were determined to win and have something to prove against each other; ending the quarter at 20 – 17, with the home team having the lead. Early portions of the second quarter, it was yet again another even fight for both teams. Going into the mid way point of the second quarter, Belmopan Bandits made a quick run to extend their lead to 10, but at the end of the first half that lead was diminished to only 3 points, with the score at 42 – 39. Entering the second half, Belmopan Bandits were discombobulated and displayed signs of fatigue. As a result, they weren’t able to convert on any possession. Thus, allowing Cayo Western Ballaz to tie the game at 50, and later took a 9 point lead going into the fourth. In the final quarter, Cayo Western Ballaz dug the hole deeper and deeper for their opponent to bury them, with a commanding lead of 17; their biggest of the night. As time was ticking down, Belmopan Bandits rejuvenated their selves and brought the game to single digits, but unfortunately, time wasn’t on their side, causing them to lose the game by a score of 81 – 74. This lost caused them to be 1 of 4 when coming to play against Cayo Western Ballaz in San Ignacio Town.
Player of the game goes to Richard Troyer, who finished with a double-double of 21 points and 10 rebounds; shooting 46% percent from the field. Other key contributing players for Cayo Western Ballaz were Daniel Nolberto with 18 points coming off the bench. Darwin Leslie finished the night with 11 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists. Top players for Belmopan Bandits were Farron Louriano with 17 points, 7 rebounds and 2 assists; debuting his first start of the season. Stephen Williams tallied 15 points, 9 rebounds and 7 steals, while Edgar Mitchell finished the game with 13 points, 8 assists and 5 rebounds.