Belmopan Comes Alive for Kings/Ballers Rematch

Good evening and welcome to this week’s edition of Sports Monday. I am Paul Lopez here with highlights from this weekend’s sports showdowns. We begin with the game of the week in the Belize Elite Basketball League. The Capital City Kings hosted the Cayo Dream Ballers for a rematch, after the Kings fell to Ballers’ home court advantage two weeks ago.

 

Four minutes into the first quarter, Jaylen Lopez comes up with the steal and passes it off to Brandon “Puddy” Flowers, giving the Kings an early seven-point lead. Flowers went on to score eighteen points for the Kings in thirty-one minutes of playtime. Jaheim Ciego barrel barreling through bodies and getting to the rim to end the first quarter drought for Ballers. He was two of ten from the field on Friday night. An assist under the rim from Arik Nicholson to Kerwin Palacio for the jam! Palacio again, this time off the rebound from an Aaron Allison missed layup. By the end of the first, Cayo Western Ballers had cut the King’s lead to three points. Ballaz’s Anthony Howell tied the game at nineteen a piece, early in the second quarter, with a pair of free throws.

 

Capital City Kings then went on a nine to two points run. Jamal Harris caught Nicholson sleeping on defense late in the second quarter and made him pay with a three point-shot. Kings thirty-one, Ballers twenty-four. Nicholson, immediately after, on the other end with the And-one. The first half finished with Kings still in the lead, thirty-five to thirty-one points. Now in the third quarter, King in possession and Jevaughn Mckenzie with the long range three pointer. Western Ballers’ Dennis Flowers at the seventh minute, cuts the lead down to two from the three-point line.  Flowers again at the fifth minute, this time tying the game at forty-five a piece. He is looking for the foul.

 

Just over a minute later, he nailed a next three point shot from the corner to give the Western Ballers their first lead of the game. Flowers finished with twenty-eight points, with an impressive six of eight three-point shots made. He also had eight rebounds. The Cayo Western Ballers kept extending their lead in the fourth quarter and took it to as much as eleven points. There was a part of the game late in the fourth where the Capital City Kings brought that lead down to five points. But Flowers dished out the final blow only moments later by forcing the turnover and making good on an open opportunity from the three-point line. The match finished with a score of eighty to seventy points in favor of Cayo Western Ballers. Up north, the Corozal Cerros Suns stunned basketball fans when they defeated the Belize City Thunderbolts in a Saturday night match that ended sixty-seven to sixty-five.

 

On Saturday, the under-fifteen females participating in the Anthony Mahler Youth Football tournament faced off for their championship games. KP Strikers took on Goal Getters in the match for bronze. A throw in towards goal for Goal Getters six minutes into the game led to a penalty kick after a KP Strikers’ player touched the ball inside the penalty box. That is one goal for Goal Getters. A foul and a spot kick in favor of KP Strikers equalized the match at one goal apiece. This match ended in a penalty shootout. After five kicks from each team, KP Strikers came out on top and secured the season’s bronze medal.

 

In the championship game, Royal Fusion took on Alvian Strikers. Regulation time saw both teams score two goals each. This resulted, once again, in a penalty shootout to determine the winner. Royal Fusion missed their first and fourth attempts. Alvian Strikers were on target for every shot. The Alvian Strikers are your 2025 Under Fifteen Female Football Champions in this tournament. Well folks that is all we have for you in tonight’s coverage of Sports Monday. Catch you in the next one.