The Nation Elite Basketball League (NEBL) continued over the weekend in various venues across the country. On Saturday March 28th, defending champions, San Pedro Tiger Sharks were soundly defeated by the Belmopan Red Tiagaz inside the University of Belize Gymnasium in the Garden City. It is the second loss on the road for the Tiger Sharks, who now fall to third place in the league and are struggling to maintain a good standing as the defending champs.
From the tip off, Belmopan Red Taigaz jumped into an early double-digit lead. As much as the visiting (and ailing) Tiger Sharks tried, they just could not keep control of the ball. At the end of the first quarter, Red Taigaz was ripping the Sharks apart by a 17 point lead. Moving into the halftime, Tiger Sharks made a few improvements, but the host team maintained a commanding 13-point lead. As the match went into third quarter, a much disorganized Tiger Sharks team found itself crushed by a score of 72 to 56 points in favor of the Red Taigaz. There was no turning back for the Tiger Sharks when the game moved into the fourth quarter. The lead had ballooned and it was evident that the Tiger Sharks were praying for the long buzzer to go off. When the game ended it was at 94 to 74 points in favor of the Red Taigaz. With the victory, Red Taigaz handed down the San Pedro Tiger Sharks their first blow out in two seasons.
Belmopan Red Taigaz was led by last year’s MVP, Farron Louriano, who tallied a double-double with 23 points and 10 rebounds while Jarrel “Bird” Velasquez finished the night with 19 points, four rebounds and three assists as both of these players had some monster dunks in the game. Point guard Terrel Eskridge had 14 points with a game high eight assists, as he continues to lead the league in that category, while Travis Lennan tallied 13 points and seven rebounds. Jamal Harris and Christian Rodriguez netted ten and eight points respectively.
For the visiting team, San Pedro Tiger Sharks’ top scorer was Darwin “Puppy” Leslie who had the game high of 32 points, as he single-handedly tried to rally his team back into the game. Densmore Edwards finished the night with 14 points, three rebounds and three assists while sinking three three-pointers. Raul Roches finished the game with 14 points and eight rebounds off the bench. Ashton Edwards scored eight points for the visiting team, who did not have a balance scoring for this game. With this huge win, Belmopan Red Taigaz and San Pedro Tiger Sharks are now tied for the #2 seed, as both teams have two losses in the tournament.
The NEBL will be taking the Easter weekend off with games resuming on Saturday, April 11th. The undefeated Cayo Western Ballaz will bring their unbeaten streak to the island as they take on the defending champs San Pedro Tiger Sharks. The islanders have not lost at home as yet throughout the two seasons, so this game is a much anticipated match. This game will be shown live on Channel 5 starting at 9PM. The game will prove to be extremely crucial for both teams, as they try to lock up the #1 seed going into the playoffs and home court advantage throughout the playoffs.
The NEBL also announces that The Toledo Diplomats has withdrawn from this year’s tournament due to administrative and financial challenges. As a result, all the games that have been played against Toledo Diplomats have been removed from the standings. As such, the standings in the NEBL is as follows:
** Game result still undecided between San Pedro Tiger Sharks and Belize City No Limit