By Vivian Tyson - Senior Editor


The Dominican Republic Basketball team successfully defended their Best of the Best Basketball championship at the Gustarvus Lightbourne Complex in a nail-biting final against Doral High School from Miami, Florida - the very team against whom they went to the final in last year’s inaugural competition.

The Dominicans gained their second lien on the title courtesy of a 77-76 margin over Doral in the final which ended almost 1a.m. Monday, July 6, in front of a large audience at gymnasium. 

Even though the Dominicans grabbed the lead in about the first five minutes of the game and maintained it until the final whistle, they almost lost the title with few seconds to go, as trailed by five points, Doral scored two unanswered two-pointers, leaving the Dominican fans biting their fingernails in panic.

The competition ran between Thursday, July, 2 and  5, and included two teams from the TCI, Doral College from Miami, Miami High also from Miami, a Cayman Islands Under 19 team, a team from The Bahamas and the back-to-back champions from the Dominican Republic. The Jamaican and well as the Phillipino team were no shows.

Even though the final was a cliffhanger, probably the most entertaining game was the encounter between the two local teams – the Turks and Caicos Islands Dream Team – the number team – and the Turks and Caicos Islands Destroyers. That game, which took the form of an exhibition face-off, was played for only one half, which saw the Dream Team coming out on top.

Losing some of their players from last year, the Dominican Republic team came out looking as confident as ever, with Doral appearing even more focused than they did last year, as they came prepared to wrest the championship trophy away from the Caribbean team.

At the opening whistle, it was Doral who started out as the aggressor. They nailed four points before the Dominican Republic team came off the mark – leading in the first two minutes 6-2.

However, as the game progressed, the eventual champions clawed their way back into contention and took over the lead from their United States counterparts, and at the halftime break, they opened up a nine point lead – 41 to 32.

However, in the second half, the champions were made to fight hard for each basket, as Doral stepped up their game, marking effectively, while at the same time, produced basket after basket. 

However, the Dominican team withstood the pressure and pressed for further advantage, but with their point guard being fouled out, Doral seized the advantage, and with twenty seconds to go and trailing by five points, shot two baskets to cut the score to one point. But the Dominican team held their nerve and preserved the solitary point to clinch the championship game.

Jordon Garland was crowned three-point shoot-out champion, while Josh Cotterell of the Cayman Islands won the Slam Dunk competition.