Defenders Secures First NEBL Title

Good evening, Belize, I am Paul Lopez with this week’s installment of Sports Monday. What a finish inside the Orange Walk Multi-Purpose Center on Friday night. The Belize City Defenders celebrated their first-ever semi-pro basketball championship, but the Orange Walk Running Rebels made sure the road to the title was anything but easy.

 

With the clock winding down and the Rebels down by two, Matthew Young found William Stansford Junior, who delivered a clutch layup with less than fifteen seconds remaining to tie the game and electrify the home crowd. With eight seconds left on the clock, all indications were that this game was headed into overtime. Defenders called a timeout. Inbound by Nigel Jones to Ajang Aguek, then back to Jones, who is double teamed, leaving a wide open Aguek under the basket. A season ending error for the Rebels.

 

Ajang Aquek, Center, Belize City Defenders

“I am excited bro, we got the chip. This is my first championship out here. This is my first championship in general, so it’s exciting.”

 

Captain and league MVP Nigel Jones was seen celebrating the victory with a bit of swagger, directing taunts toward the opposition after the final buzzer. Moments later, the emotion of the championship set in as he embraced teammates and fans during the postgame celebration.

 

Nigel Jones, Captain, Belize City Defenders

“I feel like everybody you know bro, I have been coming out here for years. This is the only thing I did not have and I promised myself coming into this season that I was going to cut back on everting, all the distractions that I felt did not have me focused. I was going to come out this year. I didn’t care about no MVPs, averaging twenty points a game, all I wanted to do was just win this year. And, I thank God he let me and my teammates come out and do this. We couldn’t be here without him.”

 

Paul Lopez

“Why were you going after your opponents after you won?”

 

Nigel Jones

“So for us, all year we let everybody else do all the talking on the internet, regular season, playoffs, the finals, everybody had so much to say. We started off the season 0-2, everybody wrote us off, Defenders the worst team in the league. And then we went on a thirteen game wining streak, took a lose but we needed that. So for me, we don’t want to do the talking while the game is going on. When the game is done we will let that do the talking and then we go talk.”

 

And this championship is perhaps the most meaningful for John Marsden, one of the names behind the Belize City Defenders since day one.

 

John Marsden, Co-Owner, Belize City Defenders

“Just straight gratitude mien, gratitude, thank you to every Defender fan that ride with we through the beginning in 2018 up to this point. Every sponsor that stayed with us from 2018 to this point. Defenders organization take a lot of pride in winning, in making sure our players are well taken care of, make sure that when this moment come mien, I have never felt something so joyous yet, beside the birth of my second child, this is the most joyous feeling.”

 

Paul Lopez

 Congratulations my brother, enjoy the celebration…

 

 

And with the NEBL’s 2026 season officially coming to an end, the Interoffice Basketball League has announced its return with two divisions and twelve teams. The season starts on July thirty-first with fifteen rings, fifteen trophies and thirty medals. The road to the championship now leads to the Belize Civic Center, where Bowen & Bowen will look to successfully defend its title.

 

Meanwhile, the Marconi Leal Fast Pitch Softball Competition is down to its final three contenders: Wolfpack Softball Club, Biscayne Tropical Breeze, and the Guardian Bombers. On Friday, the Bombers and Tropical Breeze will battle for a spot in the finals, with the winner advancing to Sunday’s championship showdown against Wolfpack.

 

Finally, it’s worth noting that a selection of Belizean athletes and officials is attending the 2026 Central American and Caribbean Games in the Dominican Republic. We will be looking out for updates on their performance. And that’s where we leave it for this edition of Sports Monday, proudly brought to you by the National Sports Council. Thanks for watching, and have a great night.

 

 

Attention readers: This online newscast is a direct transcript of our evening television broadcast. When speakers use Kriol, we have carefully rendered their words using a standard spelling system.

 

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