By: Charleston Gladden
On Thursday night, March 16th, Belmopan Bandits hosted their rivals from the island, San Pedro Tiger Sharks, at the UB Gymnasium in a rematch battle. This is the second and final meeting of the two teams for the season. In their last meeting at San Pedro, Belmopan Bandits got dismantled and are now looking to even out the season series.
In the first quarter, San Pedro dominated on both ends of the court as they gained an advantage with a lead of 3 points at the end of the quarter; with a score of 13 – 10. The tables were turned in the second quarter, as Belmopan took the lead and went on a 14 – 0 run, but unfortunately that run and lead was diminished before San Pedro went on a run of their own. As the first half ended, Belmopan Bandits had a slim 3 point lead with the score at 33 – 30. In the third, Belmopan Bandits couldn’t compete offensively against San Pedro as they were down by 5 going into the fourth. Throughout the final quarter, it was an evenly scoring effort from both teams. As they were demonstrating a statement to each other. In the final minutes of the ball game, it was all down to free throws where Belmopan sank major of theirs and winning the game by only 2 points with a score of 71- 69. As a result of the win, they’re now tie for first place and evening out the series against San Pedro Tiger Sharks.
Player of the game goes to Richard Smith III with 18 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 blocked shots; shooting 46% from the field. Other contributing players for Belmopan Bandits were Edgar Mitchell with 12 points, 7 rebounds, and 6 assists. Farron Louriano with 13 rebounds and 11 points. Top players for San Pedro Tiger Sharks were George Williams with a game-high of 24 points; shooting 47% from the field. Raul Roches with 22 points and 6 rebounds. Douglas Valley with 15 points and 4 rebounds coming off the bench.