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Local Basketball Product Making His Mark on the U.S. Circuit

Hailing from the Cayman Islands, Kai Robinson is a local product making his mark in the U.S. at the High School level.  Slotted in for graduation in 2020, this 6’1 combo guard initially made his footprint at Vanguard High School in Lake Wales, Florida where he most recently averaged 17.3 points, 5.8 assists and 3.3 rebounds during his sophomore year campaign.

Kai is now showcasing his talents at Wilbraham & Monson Academy (“WMA”), a prep School in Wilbraham, Pennsylvania. WMA prepares student athletes for the next level both on and off the court, with recent graduates moving on to the likes of the University of Kentucky, Indiana University and the University of Connecticut, all renowned Division 1 (“D-1”) basketball powerhouses.

From the WMA basketball website: “Many others are competing at other competitive basketball programs. Our player development and conditioning routines, practice and game preparation, and emphasis on shaping high-performing student-athletes make us one of the top basketball programs in the United States.”

Although just commencing his junior year, Kai has already earned numerous accolades including unofficial visits to top D-1 programs. He is committed to playing at the next level, with Wake Forest in Winston-Salem, North Carolina being his dream school of choice.

Stamped as a top prospect within the Class of 2020, Kai recently participated in the Elite 75 Showcase, a summer time tournament featuring top college prospects from all over the U.S.

As part of recap from the Elite 75 Showcase, experts had the following to say:

“Kai Robinson, Wilbraham & Monson – Robinson started to make a name for himself Saturday by showing the skills and presence of a true point guard. He was constantly communicating, showing a high I.Q., tight handle, and very smooth jumper.” 

Kai was introduced to basketball at age 8 through the Cayman Islands Basketball Association (“CIBA”), a nonprofit governing body for basketball in the Cayman Islands. It was “love at first sight” as they say, and Kai has not looked back.

CIBA facilitates the development of Cayman’s youth through its leagues, ongoing programs and clinics offered throughout the year. CIBA’s objectives are as follows:

  • To use basketball as a tool to develop exceptional citizens
  • To increase levels of participation for health and self-esteem
  • To provide avenues for national and college recruitment for young, promising athletes
  • Offer an alternative method of mediation to reduce the number of youths left unsupervised after-school and on weekends
  • To promote a healthy and active society through basketball
  • To build national pride through participation in regional and international games

Led by Technical Director Coach Victor “Voot” O’Garro, CIBA provides Cayman’s youth access to basketball at a young age beginning with the CIBA Basketball Academy offered to 7 – 9 year olds. Aside from the Academy, locally sponsored leagues are offered to players giving youth the opportunity to display and master the foundational skills learned at the Academy within a competitive team environment.

These leagues would not be possible without local sponsors, KPMG sponsoring the Under 14 Boys and Girls Leagues and PwC sponsoring the Under 16 Boys and Girls Leagues.


The PwC Basketball Under 16 Boys and Girls Leagues sponsorship plaque of appreciation presented to PwC’s Graeme Sunley, PwC Cayman’s territory leader

CIBA has been the guiding path in sending close to 20 local Cayman youths on to prep schools in the U.S. over the past few years, with one local product Jorge Ebanks now playing professionally in Europe. Furthermore, the Cayman Islands National Men’s Basketball team won the gold medal at the most recent Island Games.

With the second inaugural Cayman Islands Classic Basketball tournament (featuring top D-1 programs from the U.S.) wrapping up recently, perhaps it is just a matter of short time that we see one of Cayman’s very own showcasing their talents in this annual tournament.

For more information on CIBA, including the CIBA program offerings along with sponsorship opportunities, visit the CIBA website at: https://caymanbasketball.com/

The 2018 National Men’s League Wraps Up In Exciting Fashion

Another season has wrapped up for both the Division 1 and Division 2 National Men’s Basketball leagues. Both series ended with sweeps, in the best of 2 out of 3 games. These final games were played on May 22, 2018 at the Cayman International School’s Arts & Recreation Centre in front of a rather rambunctious well attended crowd.

Coach Victor O’Garro (“Coach Voot”), the Technical Director of the Cayman Islands Basketball Association (“CIBA”), had the following statement:

“An exciting evening of play-off basketball saw a new champion Fix It Celltronics in Division 2 and a repeat performance by the defending champion Sol Blazers (in Division 1). Looking towards another exciting year in 2019.”

The action packed evening began with the second game in the best of three series between Division 2 finalists Fix It Celltronics vs. Charterland. Despite a valiant effort by Charterland, the Fix It Celltronics hung on to win  68 – 63.

(Jeremy Varlow of Charterland finishing at the rim)

Top performers for Fix It Celltronics:

  • Conroy Campbell – 17 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, 1 block
  • Kael Leslie – 11 points, 5 rebounds, 7 assists, 3 steals
  • Davion Foster – 11 points, 11 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal

Top performer for Charterland:

  • Curtis Wilson – 18 points, 10 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals, 4 blocks

(The Fix It Celltronics, with the Division 2 championship trophy)

 

The excitement continued in the second game of the evening, featuring Division 1 finalists Burger King Warriors vs. the Sol Blazers. This heated rivalry did not disappoint, but in the end the Sol Blazers pulled away to claim the championship 66 – 59.

(Shaad O’Garro making his defensive presence felt near the rim all evening)

Top performers for Sol Blazers

  • Samuel O’Garro – 22 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 steals, 1 block
  • Shaad O’Garro – 17 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, 3 blocks
  • Joshua Dikua – 11 points, 10 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, 1 block
  • Kevin Maxwell – 7 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, 1 block

Top performers for the Burger King Warriors’:

  • Deandre Simpson – 19 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists, 5 steals, 2 blocks
  • Tikko Moore – 18 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals
  • Omari Corbin – 10 points, 11 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 block

(The Sol Blazers, with the Division 1 championship trophy)

Stay tuned for more CIBA related updates, including other ongoing leagues – both the National Women’s League and The PwC Basketball Under 16 Boys and Girls Leagues

For more information including sponsorship opportunities, please contact Michael Diamond at +1 (345) 916-2430 and / or Coach Voot at +1 (345) 916-5083 or visit https://caymanbasketball.com/

Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Cayman-Islands-Basketball-Association-CIBA-147272918668446/

“Learning what not to do is sometimes more important than learning what to do”

– Rick Pitino (Basketball Coach)

KPMG Under 14 Boys League Semi Finals Coming Up

The KPMG Inter-school Boys League is heating up as the top four teams advance after quarter-final action this past Monday. Here were the results :

QUARTERFINALS
Round Date Time Court Game Home Score Away Score Location
1 19-Feb 3:30 1 13 Cayman Prep 25 St Ignatius 24 John Gray Gymnasium
1 19-Feb 4:30 1 14 Marlin Academy 29 Wahoo Academy 31 John Gray Gymnasium
2 19-Feb 3:30 2 15 Clifton Hunter HS 42 Tarpon Academy 8 John Gray Gymnasium
2 19-Feb 4:30 2 16 Dolphin Academy 31 C.I.S. 17 John Gray Gymnasium

Here is the lineup for this coming Monday’s Semi Finals (Games 17 & 18) as well as consolation games (games 19-20): Winners of games 17 and 18 advance to championship match. 

SEMI-FINALS
Round Date Time Court Game Home Score Away Score Location
1 26-Feb 3:30 1 17 Cayman Prep Dolphin Academy John Gray Gymnasium
1 26-Feb 4:30 2 18 Wahoo Academy Clifton Hunter HS John Gray Gymnasium
1 26-Feb 3:30 1 19 St Ignatius C.I.S. John Gray Gymnasium
1 26-Feb 4:30 2 20 Marlin Academy Tarpon Academy John Gray Gymnasium
Island Games 2017 Schedule

Follow our Cayman National Men’s and Women’s teams as they chase medals at this year’s Nat West Islands Games in Gotland.

Coach Duran Whittaker, Arin Taylor and Juawon Ebanks

Men’s League Schedule: http://islandgames2017results.com/schedule.aspx?SportID=4&EventID=79

Women’s League Schedule: http://islandgames2017results.com/schedule.aspx?SportID=4&EventID=80

Men’s Group Standings (GROUP C): http://islandgames2017results.com/Sports/BASKETBALL/default.aspx?SportID=4&EventID=79

Women’s Group Standings (GROUP A): http://islandgames2017results.com/Sports/BASKETBALL/default.aspx?SportID=4&EventID=80

National Men’s Team on the Ferry to Gotland

National Women’s Team at the game venue

Blazers Repeat…Again!

It was the best Division 1 Final Series in years! Read the Full Story on Cayman Sports Buzz! http://www.caymansportsbuzz.com/sol-blazers-win-back-to-back-titles/

Lady Heels 3-Peat!

Read the Full Story at Cayman Sports Buzz! http://www.caymansportsbuzz.com/three-straight-titles-for-lady-warriors/ 

Fearless Win Under 16 Girls Championship

Everyone loves it when the game goes down to the wire! That’s exactly what happened when the Women of Valor Fearless took met their counterparts, Women of Valor Courage in the finals of the PwC under 16 Girls League title match.  

These young ladies were anything but lady-like when the jump ball took place, making it clear they were all about business and could save the pleasantries until after the final whistle.  The game saw several lead changes and it was unclear as to who was walking away with the crown.  Latoya Brown of the WoV Courage dominated the paint, blocking almost anything that came near her and intimidating her opponents.  Lyandrea Watson was all over the court and all over the stat sheet, doing whatever was required to get her team to victory, scoring, rebounding and also snatching the ball away whenever it came in her vicinity.

But it was the the day when Fearlessness would prove more valiant that Courage as Shante Reid and Zaria Ebanks combined for 25 of their team’s 33 points and led their team to a 1 point victory in the dying seconds of the game! Ebanks and Reid were also most dominant for their teams on the boards, combing for 18 rebounds.   

Final Score: WV Fearless 33 points vs WV Courage 32 points
Winners – Fearless – Zaria Ebanks – 13 PTS, 12 REBS, 1 ST
                                 Shante Reid – 12 PTS, 6 REBS, 3 AS, 5 STS
Losing Team – WV Courage – Latoya Brown – 12 PTS, 11 REBS, 1 ST, 5 BLS
                                                 Lyandrea Watson – 9 PTS, 7 REBS, 2 AS, 6 STS, 1
FINALS MVP – Zaria Ebanks – WV Fearless
Photo Credit: Wil Bignal Photography
Warriors take PwC U-16 Title

Fans could not have asked for a better final.  The two top teams of the highly contested PwC under 16 Boys league – Warriors and Heat – faced off for the 2017 bragging rights.  Both teams came out with a lightning fast pace! Attacking the basket with reckless abandon and playing “in your face” defense.  It was obvious that no team was intimidated by the other and both were hungry for the title. 

The Warriors decided to focus on Heat leader Ian MacRae, limiting his touches and making every basket difficult and highly contested. But his teammates Jabari Walrond and Lauren Brown stepped up to the challenge to carry the team.

The Heat decided to focus on taking Joshua O’Garro out of the picture. Although O’Garro was still scoring, he got into foul trouble early, which forced his Coach John Ebanks to sit him practically the entire 3rd quarter. While O’Garro was on the bench, Joanki Espinar and Shay Lalor rose to the challenge offensively. 

In the end, the Warriors were able to come up with some key defensive stops that allowed them to create a cushion in the final two minutes of the game to seal the championship! 

Warriors – 58 points vs Heat 49 points

Winners – Warriors – Joshua O’Garro – 27 PTS, 8 REBS, 4 AS, 3 ST
                                  Joanki Espinar – 9 PTS, 10 REBS, 4 AS
Losing Team – Heat – Jabari Walrond – 18 PTS, 5 REB, 3 AS, 6 STS
                                    Lauren Brown – 17 PTS, 10 REBS, 2 AS
FINALS MVP – Joshua O’Garro – Warriors
YG Goes Off for 53 and a Triple Double!

Joshua O’Garro a.k.a. “YG” which apparently stands for “Young O’Garro” set a league high and national record as the youngest player to ever score 50 or more points in a men’s league.  The record came at the hands of the Western Union Division 2 men’s team on May 24th as the Juniors came out to prove a point.

The Juniors have a definite game style; high tempo, high octane!  From the start, the Juniors applied a stifling zone defense with lots of pressure on the perimeter, forcing a-lot of early turnovers early and jumping out to a 30 point lead by the end of the first half. It was clear that Western Union could not come back, but Juniors Coach Duran “Trinity” Whittaker told his team not to take their feet off the gas and to respect the game by playing the right way.  So said so done, despite awesome performances by Tereque Simpson who had 22 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists; and Trevin Williamson who added 23 points and 11 rebounds, YG was the star of the night, lighting up the stat sheet shooting 9 of 13 from 3 point range, 12 of 17 from two point range, adding 10 steals, 10 rebounds and 7 assists.  YG was just 3 assists short of a quadruple double, an achievement held only by his uncle Shaad O’Garro. The 53 point game was also the league high, just edging past the Warriors’ Collin Anglin who scored 49 points earlier this season. 

Final score: 137 – 64

For Western Union: Darrell Paddyfoot led the way with 25 points and a game high 24 rebounds, unstoppable in the paint.  Teammate Daniel Quinland added 19 points in a losing effort

Happy Mother’s Day

The Cayman Islands Basketball Association would like to wish all of the mothers, and especially our basketball moms, a Happy Mother’s Day!!!