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Basketball
Basketball Season Opener Set For Saturday
By Dean Greenaway
May 7, 2008, 07:38

The East Will begin their title defense against the Bad Boys. Photo>Dean "The Sportsman" Greenaway

TORTOLA—The BVI Basketball Federation will open its 2008 league on Saturday afternoon at the Multipurpose Sports Complex in Road Town, featuring three games.

Activities are slated to begin with a parade of teams from the Elmore Stoutt High School at 4:30 p.m., and teams are to line up by 4 p.m. for the parade to the Multipurpose Sports Complex for the 5 p.m. opening ceremonies. There will be speeches by Sports Minister  Andrew Fahie—who also coaches the Guns team. Acting Director of Youth Affairs and Sports Patrick Harrigan and Basketball Federation president Guy “The General” Malone are slated to give remarks.

The opening game will feature a 9-12 contest with an All Star team from Virgin Gorda, taking on the Tortola counterparts. Three times defending champions Virgin Gorda Jr. Mystics will face Basics followed by senior division champs  East vs. Bad Boys. Sunday games starting at 6 p.m., will find Da Boys vs. Run It Red and Ghetto Mix vs. Long Look Bull Dogs. There will be entertainment between games.

“We are looking forward to having an exciting competitive league with 29 teams,” Federation president Malone said. “We have 10 teams in the Jr. division, 14 in intermediate and five in the seniors. There has been a lot of trash talk about the league. One of the things we have embarked on is has been interviewing teams to hype the league, so, we are looking for a lot of excitement.”

Malone said the league is expected to run through September and they have designated Saturday night as the feature night with the most competitive games. “As you know, 29 teams are a lot of teams and we are working on bringing a full schedule,” Malone said. “We want to have giveaways on Saturdays and we are talking to sponsors to sponsor those nights, so we are expecting big things.”

An All Stars game is scheduled for the middle of the league and after each weekend, a player of the week will be named in each division Malone said. “We are asking people to come out and support,” Malone said. “There’s a lot of talk, There’s a lot of youths, there’s a lot of talk and teams are competitive, so come out and support and make this a memorable moment.”