Zion Gray erupted for a 31-point performance on Saturday, propelling the Eagles into the semi-finals of the Guyana Basketball Federation (GBF) Elite 16 Championship, where they will clash with the Ravens on November 23.<\/p>\n
Gray was the centrepiece of the Eagles\u2019 79\u201374 win over the Colts, lighting up the National Gymnasium in a game that showcased his offensive prowess and court leadership.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the Ravens dismantled the Kobras in a lopsided 67\u201332 rout, highlighting their dominance on both ends of the floor.<\/p>\n
The Eagles and Colts matchup was a nail-biter from the opening tip.<\/p>\n
Colts came out strong, taking a 19\u201314 lead after the first quarter, powered by Charles Williams and O\u2019Quacy Shortt\u2019s scoring efforts.<\/p>\n
Despite the early deficit, the Eagles found their rhythm in the second quarter behind the dynamic backcourt duo of Gray and Travis Belgrave as they outscored Colts 24\u201321 but still trailed by two at halftime, 40\u201338.<\/p>\n
Belgrave, who contributed 17 points on the night, and forward Michael Turner, who added 14, elevated their intensity in the third quarter.<\/p>\n
Their efforts gave the Eagles a slim 55\u201351 advantage heading into the final period. On the other side, the Colts leaned heavily on Williams, who poured in a team-high 20 points, and Shortt, who chipped in with 18.<\/p>\n
However, without their injured star point guard Shelroy Thomas, Colts struggled to keep up in crunch time. Eagles\u2019 relentless attack, spearheaded by Gray\u2019s clutch scoring, sealed the five-point victory.<\/p>\n
In the earlier game, the Ravens put on a clinic against an outmatched and obviously venom-less team Kobras, dominating from start to finish.<\/p>\n
The Ravens opened with a suffocating defence, holding the Kobras to just four first-quarter points while racking up 23 of their own. By halftime, the Ravens led 39\u201313, effectively putting the game out of reach.<\/p>\n
Coach Marlon Rodrigues rotated his line-up in the second half, giving his bench players valuable minutes and sparing the Kobras further humiliation.<\/p>\n
Shemar Huntley led the Ravens with 12 points, while Terrence Daniels, Nikkolai Smith, and Ryan Stephney each added 10.<\/p>\n
Kobras failed to find an offensive spark, with Lawrence De Costa\u2019s nine points being their lone bright spot.<\/p>\n
The semi-final picture will be completed on Wednesday, as the Royals face the University of Guyana Trojans and the Pacesetters take on Region 10\u2019s Kwakwani Untouchables.<\/p>\n
(Rawle Toney)<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Zion Gray erupted for a 31-point performance on Saturday, propelling the Eagles into the semi-finals of the Guyana Basketball Federation (GBF) Elite 16 Championship, where they will clash with the Ravens on November 23. Gray was the centrepiece of the Eagles\u2019 79\u201374 win over the Colts, lighting up the National Gymnasium in a game that…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5019,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[79,95,80,81,89],"class_list":["post-5018","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-competitions","tag-eagles","tag-gbf-elite-16-ko","tag-gdf","tag-kobras","tag-ravens","article-list-item","animate"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/guyanabasketball.com\/gy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/gbfelite16-news-logo.jpg?fit=1500%2C1000&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/guyanabasketball.com\/gy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5018","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/guyanabasketball.com\/gy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/guyanabasketball.com\/gy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/guyanabasketball.com\/gy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/guyanabasketball.com\/gy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5018"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/guyanabasketball.com\/gy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5018\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5020,"href":"https:\/\/guyanabasketball.com\/gy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5018\/revisions\/5020"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/guyanabasketball.com\/gy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5019"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/guyanabasketball.com\/gy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5018"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/guyanabasketball.com\/gy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5018"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/guyanabasketball.com\/gy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5018"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}