by Charleston Gladden

As the 2018 Pepsi NEBL season slowly comes to a close, Smart Belize Hurricanes is fighting for seeding positioning as they host the Belmopan Bandits on Friday night. In their previous meeting earlier this season, Smart Belize Hurricanes won an overtime thriller so now it’ll be Belmopan’s turn to tie up the season series.

Smart Belize Hurricanes went on an 8 – 0 to start off the game, but that run was snapped by a bucket by Luther Page of Belmopan Bandits and they were able to manage to catch up to the Hurricanes before the lead got out of hand. In the final minute of the first quarter, the Belmopan Bandits were able to make it a one position game and tying up the game at 20 at the end of the quarter. In the second quarter it was very well contested as Smart Belize Hurricanes had a small lead, but the Belmopan Bandits were right on their tail closing the gap. Unfortunately their push wasn’t enough to give them the lead as Smart Belize Hurricanes still held a 6 point lead with the score of 43 – 37 at the half. In the second half it was all Hurricanes as they stepped up on their defensive intensity, and managed to go on a 19 – 0 run between the 6:57 and 2:26 mark. At this point of the game it was clearly decided on who’ll be the winner, so both teams emptied their benches and allowed their reserve guys finish out the game. Smart Belize Hurricanes won over the Belmopan Bandits with a 107 – 80 score.

Player of the game goes to Glency Lopez of Smart Belize Hurricanes scoring 15 points in the first half, and finishing with 19 points and 5 assists. Other key contributors were Kyle Young with 13 points coming off the bench and Eyan Rene with 10 points, who has been the x-factor for the team since being inserted into the starting lineup. Top players for Belmopan Bandits were Stephen Williams with 25 points, Luther Page with a double-double of 17 points and 11 rebounds and Gregory Rudon netting 15 points and Travis Lennan with 10 points.

TIP IN:

Bandits: Leroy Louriano DNP due to a dislocated wrist (left)… had 6 players that were no shows… Travis Lennan and Emani Enriquez were inserted in the starting lineup for the first time this season… Kyle Pascascio finished with 9 points

Hurricanes: are defeating opponents by a margin of 30 points in their last 3 games… Ervin Orosco and Akeem Trapp scored 8 points respectively.

UP NEXT:

Bandits: Host Verdes on Friday, April 27, 2018

Hurricanes: Visits Griga Dream Ballers on Saturday, April 28, 2018