By: Charleston Gladden

On May 20, 2017 Belmopan Bandits travelled to the island of San Pedro to face off against their more than hated rivals, San Pedro Tiger Sharks, in Game 1 of the Pepsi NEBL Finals. This is the first finals appearance for Belmopan Bandits in franchise history and the expectations are very high for them after completing a remarkable regular season. Compared to San Pedro Tiger Sharks, who’ve been to all four NEBL Finals, Belmopan Bandits are looking to redeem themselves after a bitter loss last season.

As the game went underway, both teams struggled to get their offense flowing, as how they planned, but eventually shots were falling for them. Throughout the early portions of the first half, it was a see-saw affair as both teams changed score leads six times. That was until San Pedro Tiger Sharks had enough and decided to display the reason why they’re in the finals for the fourth time in a row and demonstrated dominancy on both ends of the court. But Belmopan Bandits were right behind them not giving up and ending the first half with a score of 32 – 29. In the second half, San Pedro Tiger Sharks was led by the league MVP, George Williams, and carrying their lead to double digits. That lead was about to cut short because a few head scratching plays by San Pedro, thus making Belmopan Bandits fall behind by four points. Yet, that still wasn’t enough for Belmopan Bandits to take the lead as they found themselves down by 17 points in the final minutes of regulation. As time expired, the game ended with a score of 69 – 60 with San Pedro Tiger Sharks taking Game 1 of the NEBL Finals. Game 2 will be on Thursday, May 25th at the UB Gymnasium.

Player of the game goes to Ashton Edwards of San Pedro Tiger Sharks finishing with 18 points coming off the bench, also with 4 of 9 shooting from behind the arch. Other key players for San Pedro Tiger Sharks were regular season MVP, George Williams, with 15 points. Raul Roches chipped in with a double-double of 15 points and 10 rebounds. Douglas Valley also contributed with 10 points. Top players for Belmopan Bandits were Farron Louraino with 17 points and 8 rebounds. Stephen Williams finished off with 13 points. Richard Smith III also finished with a double-double of 17 rebounds and 12 points.