Thousands of Belizeans converged on the City Center last night to see a star-studded national basketball team take the court against an impressive Mexican national squad. The Belize team was the best national team this country has put on the court in 6 years; it featured six Belizean or Belizean-Americans playing organized basketball in the United States. But would they be enough to resist a Mexican team eager to dominate the Central American region. Channel 7 broadcast the game live, and here's a recap Click To View Recap [ON DEMAND].
Belize started out the game fast and hot - with shots like this 3 from Kenton Paulino and this drive through the lane over the tall trees, and this fast break
shot with a smart crossover move Belize shot out to an early lead of 10 to four. And when Kenton wasn't doing it, Darwin Carter was with shots like this three pointer.
With a 23 to 14 score at the end of one Belize looked unbeatable, and the team huddled to plan for continued dominance in the second quarter.
But Mexico started a comeback led by 6 foot 11 inch 300 pound center Horoacio Llamas, the former Phoenix Sun and the first Mexican to ever play in the NBA. He showed his dominance inside and outside and this shot brought the Mexicans to within two. Llamas took his team into the lead with this shot, easily overpowering Shabba Smith and with his teammates filling in shots like this, Belize's 9 point lead was quickly turned into a 9 point deficit. Llamas would lead them
to a 16 point lead at the half. Still, coming form the halftime locker room, Coach Kevin Seroki was calm.
Kevin Seroki, National Team Coach
"We just got to make our baskets and play defense, that's all; sit back and lead. There is no sixteen point play so let's make our hoops and play defense, that's all. They came out and gave us a little shot and we gave them a shot and they shot back so we just gotta come out and play, that's all."
And his team came out, again, showing their athletic talent on this alley hoop to Sonny Watson. But the momentum would die out soon on plays like this which resulted in a technical foul being called and another technical on this play. With Belize in disarray arguing with the referees, this shot opened the lead to 18. And when Richard Lopez scored this 3 to end the third quarter, keeping the lead at 16, it was clear the Mexicans had lost nothing in the third quarter.
While the Belize team did show some open court flash in the fourth quarter, the Mexican dominance would continue and they rolled to a 17 point victory, 89 to 72. Mexico's big man said they made the right adjustments.
Horacio Llamas, Mexican National Team
"They got pretty good shooters and we didn't do good defense
in the first quarter and they scored every shot they wanted. After the second quarter they started having a hard time shooting."
Janelle Chanona,
What did you learn tonight that you'll take into tomorrow match-up?
Horacio Llamas,
"Don't relax, play aggressive like we did in the third quarter, make things happen for us."
Keith Acosta, Team Belize
"We were completely out of our sets, we didn't execute a lot coming down the floor on offense and defense. They had a tremendous game plan, they came, they dictated the pace of the game, and they just controlled the entire game."
Janelle Chanona,
I see your inside game wasn't there at all, most of your shooters were taking three and outside. What will you do different tomorrow night?
Keith Acosta,
"Try and attack some more. We are smaller than they are but we are quicker than they are so we got to rely on our strength and attack them some more. We got to go at them, we can't stay outside and let them dictate the pace of the game."
So while the Mexicans adjusted, the Belizeans did not, leaving fans hoping that this drummer would not have to play the death march for them tonight.
Speaking with us this evening, coach Kevin Seroki says they will make adjustments: he says they plan to make it a more up tempo game giving the quicker Belize team more opportunities to run. He says they will apply pressure defense, make the game scrappy, and front the post to deny the ball to Horacio Llamas. He remains confident his team is better and can win. Will they? Well, you'd best see for yourself when the game tips tonight at 8:00 the City Center.
