Basketball continues to grow by leaps and bounds! One of CIBA’s goals is to increase its competition presence both locally and internationally. There has been a focus over the past 12 months on 3×3 which is now an Olympic Sport. Cayman Qualified for its first ever FIBA World Cup qualifier tournament late last year and now a Men and Women’s team will take part in the AMERICUP 3×3 Tournament which takes place in San Juan, Puerto Rico from Nov 29-Dec 3rd.
Cayman’s Men’s team consists of Samuel and Shaad O’Garro, Davion Cotterell and Kwei General. Cayman’s Women’s team consists of Chloe Powery-Doxey, Lyandrea Watson, Vania Cornwall and Khailan O’Connor.
To visit the official page of the Americup click here.
View the Men’s Schedule here. View the Women’s Schedule here.
CIBA continues to fulfil its mission of maximising opportunities for its members by selecting Vivian Worrell to attend a Youth Leadership Workshop hosted by the FIBA Americas. More than 20 Youth representatives from the Caribbean and Central America will attend a workshop in Puerto Rico from November 28 – December 3rd.
Vivian was chosen to represent CIBA because of her great interpersonal and leadership skills. She has been involved in basketball for over 5 years as a player, table official and a coach. She is eager to learn new things, has shown a desire to improve the lives of those around her through basketball and consistently gives back to the sport. CIBA is proud to have Worrell represent the Cayman Islands.
While in Puerto Rico, she will attend workshops, assist with various projects, learn about FIBA’s “Basketball For Good” initiative and then will be responsible for implementing a program within the next 12 months of returning to Cayman.
CIBA President, Collin Anglin, states that “Vivian is very excited about the program and is already sharing great ideas that CIBA looks forward to supporting!”
U17 boys division 345 ballers (Daric Ebanks, Leon Turner and Daniel Stone) defeated Sav Man 18-15 in the championship match to claim the Redemption 3×3 Championship Title.
Daric Ebanks finished as the MVP of the tournament with 59 total points, scoring 23 3-pointers throughout his 5 games Joshua Barrett was the 2nd ranked player of the tournament and Xzavier Miller was the 3rd highest ranked player. Ebanks also set a record 8 3-pointers in a single game. In 3×3, 3-pointers are worth 2 points and 2 pout field goals are worth 1 point.
On July 10th, Cayman’s top Under 23 players took to the John Gray Gymnasium for the Shooting Stars 3×3 Basketball Tournament. In the previous showdown, Team Wakanda emerged victorious; but on this night there would be new kids on the block by the name of “661” who would steal the show. After 21 round robin games of play, the top two that emerged would be Team 1 – comprised of Lance Welcome, Alwin Buttrum and Revaughn Johnson, and 661 – made up of Nathaniel Anderson, Mark Mclean and Jahron Barnes.
Team 661 got of to a blistering start; hot shooting, strong dribble penetration and a team chemistry that looked like they’ve been playing together for years. Each player seemed to know where his teammate would be and when. They also created a lot of defensive problems for Team 1. Lance Welcome, the tournament’s top scorer was getting stifling defense. But there was no answer for Alwin Buttrum, who was punishing the small 661 players in the paint. This appeared to be the strategy that Team 1 should have led with but they realized this a little too late. The damage had already been done and there would be no recovery for team 1.
In the end – 661 would emerge victorious in their tournament debut. The players can’t wait until the next one.
From L-R: Jahron Barnes, Mark Mclean and Nate Anderson
Team Wakanda will definitely cherish this moment “forever” as they walk away the victors of the Generation Next 3×3 Basketball Tournament Held at the Arts and Recreation Center on June 29th.
It was a fierce competition in which every team suffered a loss. There were dunks, 3’s and lots of “And 1’s”! Teams played an intense, high tempo style of play. The two top teams during the round robin play were Nice Try – and Wakanda. In their first meeting, Nice Try edged past Wakanda 11-8. But Wakanda would have the opportunity for revenge as they met the team that they suffered their only loss to in the finals. Wakanda would emerge victorious by repaying “Nice Try” with an 11-8 defeat! MVP of the championship game was Jathan Barnes. Team Wakanda comprised of Daric Ebanks, Jathan Barnes, Noel Squire and Daniel Reyes.
The best of the best faced off on June 25th at the Arts and Recreation Center. Cayman’s top national and college players faced off for bragging rights and to see who truly is….the Best.
The competition was fierce and intense. Because of the high level of skill, games rarely ended because of time expiration; instead, it was an display of offensive mastery along with high flying acrobatics.
Although the young guns such as Joshua O’Garro, Justin Collins, Philip Webb, Tazmar Dawkins and Javonte Woolery put up a fight, they didn’t overcome the experience of the seasoned veteran blazers team of The O’Garro Brothers and Justin Golob. Astros met the Blazers in the Finals and although Davi Cotterell, Jake Whittaker and Deandre Simpson gave a scare, they were no match for the dynamic trio who have now won their second 3×3 tournament for the year.
The question in the Cayman 3×3 World now seems to be…”Can anyone Dethrone the Blazers?” Only Time will tell.
On April 28th, 10 Teams from the CIBA National Men’s Basketball League took the court to vy for the crown of this year’s first in a series of 3×3 Tournaments. The games were fast paced and loaded with offensive action! 3X3 is continuous and has a 12 second shot clock; so teams do not have any time to relax! As time progressed, the cream of the crop began to rise to the top; the Sol Blazers, Astros, Plantito and Silver Bullets would emerge as the top 4. The Bullets, led by Lance Welcome, tried to give Davie Cotterell, Whittaker and Rankine a run for their money, but the size and strength of the Astros was too much to handle.
On the other court, Plantito – a combination of the Philippines’ finest, took on the Blazers; but the O’Garro brothers, Omar Clarke and Justin Golob proved to be too much to handle. This would ultimately lead to the showdown that most expected; the Blazers and the Astros. As fate would have it this actually turns out to be the same teams that will face each other in the semi finals of the division one playoffs. Both teams were trading baskets for the first few minutes; it seemed impossible for one team to stop the other from scoring. But each time the Astros would score one point the Blazers would come back with two. This began to open up a little breathing space for the Blazers. But the Astros came storming back and a late long range shot from Shaad O’Garro sealed he deal to wind things up with a 21-17 finish.
The Blazers were awarded some gift certificates from Smoothie King, Winner Circle Sports and from the Title Sponsor – Cayman Cabana.
It was an exciting evening and players are already looking forward to the next tournament which takes place on May 19th.
3×3 is on fire in Cayman! With the success and excitement of the Senior divisions on display for all to see, the Juniors decided to take to the court to test their metal as well!
On October 20th, 4 teams took to the court to compete for 3×3 Supremacy! It was a very competitive field, there was no clear winner expected. No team would go without a loss; players were acclimating themselves to the new style of play and the rules. But when the smoke was clear, The Teams Splash (Enarre Smiith, Nicolai Manzanares, Aiden Shields and Daniel Stone) and Hoop Squad (Ryan Munoz, Ayo Ogunyebi, Lewis Wilks and Joshua Whittaker) would eventually meet in the finals.
Daniel Stone took advantage of his monstrous inside presence early and carried his team into the lead, buy Ogunyebi brought his team back with a series of crafty baskets inside. However, the distributed scoring of Smith, Manzanares and Stone proved to be a bit too much for the Hoop Squad.
Final score: Splash 8, Hoop Squad 4.
From L-R, Nicolai Manzanares, Enarre Smith, Daniel Stone, Aiden Shields
The past two 3×3 tournaments have all seen different champions. If you were left thinking “why should this one be any different?” then you would be right.
With BlazTros taking Round 1 and Gladiators taking Round 2, The Monarchs decided that it was time for them to assume the throne of the Triple Threat 3×3 Tournament.
Revamped and loaded with firepower, the team of Jerome Narcisse, Samuel O’Garro, Stephan Cotterell and Kwei General came out with blood in their eyes; even making the bold prediction “we are winning this”. They did not disappoint! They began by taking down the defending champs 18-17, then disposing of Blaztros 21-5. They sent the chosen ones packing 21-16 and would meet with the Gladiators once again for an epic, winner-takes-all finale!
Although Tikko Moore came out hot for and carried much of the load offensively for the Gladiators, it was not enough for the lights out shooting of Samuel O’Garro and the precision-based execution of Narcisse.
