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Presenting your San Pedro Tiger Sharks Team members!

The San Pedro Tiger Sharks has officially introduced their team members for the upcoming season of the National Elite Basketball League (NEBL). The new season that starts on Friday, January 13th will once again see Ambergris Caye represented by the two-time NEBL champions.

Coach Rico Black is confident and believes that the team is more than ready for a great performance in the national tournament. The members of the team that will join him this season are: Kurt Burgess, Doug Penland, Douglas Valley, Raul Roches, George Williams, Tyron Edwards, Ashton Edwards, Jamal Kelly, Jay Jex, Rassi Jenkins, Afri Black, Jorrett Jones, and Nayib Casimiro.

The island team recently came back from the Central American Basketball Tournament known as COCABA, held in El Salvador. The regional tournament took place between December 13 and 18 of 2016, where they claimed third place for Belize.

Click here to read the rest of the article in the San Pedro Sun

San Pedro Tiger Sharks claim first win in the 2017 NEBL Season

The 2017 National Elite Basketball League (NEBL) opened on Friday, January 13th with a heated match between 2016 sub champions the San Pedro Tiger Sharks and the Cayo Western Ballaz. Basketball fanatics flocked to the Sacred Heart College Auditorium in San Ignacio Town for the highly anticipated game. The tight match provided much entertainment for fans of both teams, but in the end it was the Tiger Sharks who claimed victory with an 83 - 55 point score.

San Pedro Tiger Sharks was led by American National, George Williams, who had the game high of 19 points to go with 5 assists, 1 steal and 50% shooting from the field. Raul "Thumpy" Roches tallied 18 points, 9 rebounds and 2 assists, while Ashton Edwards netted 13 points, including three shots from behind the arc, to go with 4 boards and 2 steals. San Pedro Tiger Sharks had the lead the entire game, their biggest being 30 points.

Click here to read the rest of the article and see more photos in the San Pedro Sun

San Pedro Tiger Sharks third win in 2017 NEBL Season

The San Pedro Tiger Sharks claimed their third consecutive victory in the 2017 National Elite Basketball League (NEBL) Season. On Saturday, January 28th, the island team took on the current NEBL Champion- Smart Belize Hurricanes in a heated match. After four quarters of intense action on the court at the Angel Nu�ez Auditorium in San Pedro Town. The island boys emerged victorious with a final score of 85-75.

Tiger Shark's George Williams had the game high with 27 points, two rebounds and two assists. While, Ashton Edwards finished with 21 points, including four shots beyond the three point arc. Another remarkable Tiger Sharks' player was Raul Roches, who netted 16 points, while grabbing four boards and dishing out three assists. Kurt 'Chengo' Burgess was also another valuable player who scored nine points for the home team, made 14 rebounds and did five assists.

The action continues this weekend with the following games: Friday, February 3rd - Cayo Western Ballaz vs Smart Belize Hurricanes at the Saint Catherine's Academy Gym starting at 9PM
Saturday, February 4th - Belize City No Limit vs. Orange Walk Running Rebels at the Orange Walk Multi-Purpose Complex starting at 9PM.
Saturday, February 4th- San Pedro Tiger Sharks vs. Belmopan Bandits at the Angel Nu�ez Auditorium starting at 9PM.

Click here to read the rest of the article and see more photos in the San Pedro Sun

Tiger Sharks remain undefeated with another win

The San Pedro Tiger Sharks are currently the only undefeated team in the National Elite Basketball League (NEBL) 2017 Tournament, after their win over Belmopan Bandits on Saturday, February 4th. With a final score of 81-55, the island team claimed their fourth victory this past weekend, showing their tenacity as they aim for their third championship in the League. Tiger Sharks' George Williams led the game with 32 points, six assists, and three rebounds. While, Ashton Edwards finished the game with 13 points, and Raul Roaches tallied 11 points and eight rebounds. Rassi Jenkins contributed with eight points and nine rebounds, and, Kurt Burgess ended the game with six points and doing 11 rebounds.

Click here to read the rest of the article and see more photos in the San Pedro Sun

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San Pedro Tiger Sharks remains only unbeaten team in NEBL championship

The National Elite Basketball League 2017 campaign continued over the last week with three games on the schedule.

On Friday 3rd February at the St. Catherine Academy Auditorium in Belize City, the defending champions the Smart Belize Hurricanes won over the Cayo Western Ballaz by the score of 86-77 to pick up its first win for this year's competition.

The top scorer for the Belize City based Smart Belize Hurricanes was Leroy Louriano with 22 points to go along with his 4 rebounds, 6 assists and a steal. Louriano had support from Akeem Watters who scored 18 points, grabbed 12 rebounds, an assist and 5 steals and Andrew Ortiz scored 16 points and had 6 rebounds.

For the visiting Cayo Western Ballaz, the top scorers were Darwin Leslie with 23 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals and James Milton with 17 points and 15 rebounds.

The competition then continued on Saturday 4th February with two games on the schedule. At the Orange Walk Multi-Purpose Complex in Orange Walk Town, the Orange Walk Running Rebels defeated the winless Belize City No Limits squad by the score of 88-82.

The top scorers for the Orange Walk Running Rebels were Roger Reneau with 23 points to go along with his 3 rebounds, 4 assists and a steal; James Ewing with 20 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals and Randy Usher with 11 points, 2 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals.

For the Belize City No Limit squad, the top scorers were Kenny Brown with 12 points, 8 rebounds and 3 assists; Marcel Orosco with 11 points, 2 rebounds and 3 assists and Lewis Marcus who also scored 11 points to go along with his 2 assists.

Meanwhile, in the final game of the weekend that was played out at the San Pedro High School Auditorium in San Pedro Town, the San Pedro Tiger Sharks continued on its winning path when it defeated the Belmopan Bandits by the score of 81-55.

The top scorers for the San Pedro Tiger Sharks were George Williams with 32 points, 3 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 steals; Ashton Edwards who contributed 13 points, had a rebound, 2 assists and 2 steals and Raul Roches who scored 11 points to go along with his 8 rebounds. The big man on the boards for the San Pedro Tiger Sharks was Kurt Burgess who grabbed a total of 11 rebounds while dishing out 3 assists and had 4 steals.

For the previously unbeaten Belmopan Bandits, the top scorers were Gregory Rudon with 10 points, 1 rebound and 2 steals and Edgar Mitchell with 8 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals.

The Guardian

Tiger Sharks suffer their first loss in the 2017 NEBL season

The San Pedro Tiger Sharks experienced their first loss in the National Elite Basketball League (NEBL) season on Friday, February 17th against Dangriga Dream Ballers. The island boys travelled to the cultural capital of Dangriga in southern Belize, where after four quarters of intense battle against the home team, they fell short by five points, giving way to the Dream Ballers' victory 57-52.

This loss puts the Tiger Sharks 4-1 in the season, leaving no undefeated team in the league. They had been overpowering their opponents, winning all their games by double figures. However, at the match against Dangriga Ballers, the unexpected happened as the island team failed to extend their winning streak.

Other games that took place over the weekend included Belize City No Limit against Smart Belize Hurricanes. The two Belize City based teams clashed in an action packed game on Saturday, February 18th at the Belize Elementary Gym. The Smart Belize Hurricanes started by dominating the match, but not for too long. At the end of an intense game, Belize City No Limit walked away with the victory in a final score of 75-70.

Click here to read the rest of the article and see more photos in the San Pedro Sun

NEBL week 5: San Pedro Tiger Sharks steal a narrow victory

It was the fifth week of basketball action for the National Elite Basketball League (NEBL), and this past weekend games were played in both the Cayo District and San Pedro Town. The San Pedro Tiger Sharks hosted the Orange Walk Running Rebels, winning a narrow 54-53 game. Meanwhile, the Cayo Western Ballaz won against Belmopan Bandit, 81-74.

On Saturday, February 25th the island team welcomed the Running Rebels for their fifth game of the season. This game was intense and frustrating for the Tiger Sharks, as they were losing in the first two quarters of the match. By the end of the third quarter, the game was tied 37-37. However, during the last quarter of the game, the visiting squad took the lead by almost ten points. Time was running out, and the Running Rebels kept sinking baskets. However, in the last minutes and seconds of the game, the Tiger Sharks made an amazing comeback, and seconds before the game was over, they netted the winning points that gave them the victory 54-53.

Click here to read the rest of the article and see more photos in the San Pedro Sun

San Pedro Tiger Sharks maintain lead in NEBL

The National Elite Basketball League regular season is fast coming to a close with three more games played over the last weekend in which the league's leading San Pedro Tiger Sharks won two of its two games played.

On Saturday 25th March, at the San Pedro High School Auditorium in San Pedro Town, the league leading San Pedro Tiger Sharks stop the Cayo Western Ballaz express by the score of 87-76 to improve its record to 7-2. The top scorers for the San Pedro Tiger Sharks were George Williams with 23 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists and a steal; Douglas Valley with 18 points, 3 rebounds and an assist and Kurt Burgess who contributed 17 points to go along with his 9 rebounds and 3 assists in the win. Meanwhile, the top scorers for the Cayo Western Ballaz were Richard Troyer with 22 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist and a steal, Gene Myvette with 13 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists and a steal and Daniel Nolberto with 12 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists and a steal.

In the game played out at the Stann Creek Ecumenical High School auditorium in Dangriga Town, the Belmopan Bandits won over the Dangriga Dream Ballers by the score of 69-65. The top scorers for the Belmopan Bandits were Keith Acosta with 18 points, 10 rebounds, 1 assist and a steal, Richard Smith III with 15 points, 14 rebounds, and 5 steals and Stephen Williams with 13 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals.

For the host team the Dangriga Dream Ballers, the top scorers wereTahj Wells with 18 points, 15 rebounds 1 assist and 2 steals and Dillmore Conorquie with 13 points and 9 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals in a heart break loss.

In the game played on Friday 24th March at the St. Catherine Academy Mercy Centre in Belize City, the San Pedro Tiger Sharks won handily over the defending champions the Smart Belize Hurricanes by the score of 80-71.

The top scorers for the San Pedro Tiger Sharks were George Williams with 27 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists and a steal and Raul Roches with 10 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists. Meanwhile, the top scorers for the Smart Belize Hurricanes were Akeem Watters with 16 points, 3 rebounds and 3 steals and Leroy Louriano who also scored 16 points with go along with his 3 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals.

The competition will continue on Thursday 30th March, 2017, at 8:30 pm at the UB Gymnasium in the City of Belmopan between the Orange Walk Running Rebels and the Belmopan Bandits. On Friday 31st March at 9:00 pm at the Sacred Heart College Auditorium in San Ignacio Town at 9:00 pm, the Dangriga Dream Ballers will do battle with the Cayo Western Ballaz. Then on Saturday 1st April, there will be two games on the schedule. At the Stann Creek Ecumenical High School Auditorium in Dangriga Town at 9:00 pm, defending champions Smart Belize Hurricanes will pay a visit to the Dangriga Dream Ballers and at the San Pedro High School Auditorium in San Pedro Town also at 9:00 pm the Belize City No Limit squad will go up against the San Pedro Tiger Sharks.

All of these games do have playoffs implications for almost all the teams in the competition.

NEBL heads into playoffs

The regular season of the 2017 National Elite Basketball League (NEBL) is heading into the playoffs and, San Pedro's Tiger Sharks continue leading in the tournament. The island squad hopes to capture their third consecutive championship title as they prepare to best the top teams in this season's competition.

The NEBL playoffs will use a best-of-three format, with the higher seeded team having the home court advantage. This is will be the third time in four years that Cayo Western Ballaz (#4 seed) and San Pedro Tiger Sharks (#1 seed) will be meeting in the semi-finals. Dangriga Dream Ballers (#2 seed) and Belmopan Bandits (#3 seed) split their season series, where both teams won at home. This is the first season that Belmopan Bandits will not face the San Pedro Tiger Sharks in the semi-finals, as they make an attempt to reach the finals for the very first time.

The schedule for the playoff games is as follows:

• Friday, April 28th at 9PM-Dangriga Dream Ballers vs Belmopan Bandits at the Ecumenical College in Dangriga Town
• Saturday, April 29th at 9PM-San Pedro Tiger Sharks vs Cayo Western Ballaz at the Angel Nu�ez Auditorium
• Thursday, May 4th at 8:30PM-Belmopan Bandits vs Dangriga Dream Ballers at UB Gymnasium in Belmopan City
• Friday, May 5th at 9PM-Cayo Western Ballaz vs San Pedro Tiger Sharks at Sacred Heart College Auditorium in San Ignacio

All games can be followed live on NEBL's website at nebl.sportingpulse.net, with real time box scores, while the game is being played. The website also has all game scores, box scores, players and teams' statistics, along with standings for the season.

Click here to read the rest of the article in the San Pedro Sun

George Williams named NEBL MVP, Rico Black Coach of the Year

San Pedro Tiger Sharks number one seed into Pepsi National Elite Basketball League playoffs

As the regular season comes to a close, the Pepsi NEBL is honored to announce the winners of this year's regular season awards.
Click here for the rest of the Pepsi NEBL 2017 season awards

The playoffs round will commence this coming Friday 28th April, with the Dangriga Dream Ballers (#2) will entertain the Belmopan Bandits (#3) at the Stann Creek Ecumenical College Auditorium in Dangriga Town commencing at 9:00 pm.

On Saturday 29th April, at the San Pedro High School Auditorium in San Pedro Town commencing at 9:00 pm, the San Pedro Tiger Sharks (#1) will go up against the Cayo Western Ballaz (#4).

NEBL Playoffs preview - Darwin "Puppy" Leslie seeks fourth consecutive NEBL championship

The 2017 NEBL playoffs are finally here, and the one thing we all know for sure is that there will be a new champion. Who it will be, of course, is anyone's guess, but we will try to provide some insights into which of the four remaining teams we consider has the best chance to emerge as the 2017 NEBL Champion.

From roles to strategy to performance, the playoffs always supply change at every level, and this undoubtedly will be manifested tomorrow night in the #1 versus the #4 bracket. Since 2014, the Tiger Sharks, arguably, has been the closest thing to a modern day dynasty in the newly re-structured NEBL, so to speak. They boast a resume of having played in 3 consecutive finals, winning two championships, and come tomorrow night, will commence their quest to win a third such title. Standing between them and that championship, however, is their arch-rival from Cayo, the Western Ballaz, led by Darwin "Puppy" Leslie. Obviously, much intrigue is here and, numbers aside, this series runs deep in terms of personalities and relationships.

To give a brief background, it was not long ago that Leslie led this same Tiger Sharks team to back-to-back championships in 2014 and 2015. Since then, he has left the Tiger Sharks and, for good measure, stuck it to them last year, leading the Belize City Hurricanes to their first championship over these same Tiger Sharks. Tomorrow, he (Leslie) will be seeking an encore, looking to win, from a personal point of view, his fourth consecutive championship, amazingly with three different teams, this time at the age of 36. This is historical, and, to the best of our knowledge, has never been achieved before in Belize's basketball. Ironically, our records show that, aside from a couple senior championships won with the Christian Ambassadors team in his early years; prior to 2014, Leslie, in his first 16 years or so of competition, had captured only two major basketball championships, those being with the 2004 semi-pro BTL Nets and the 2011 Interoffice Bulldogs. Talking about storylines, this series certainly has it.

Getting inside the numbers, though, there's a lot to unpack here. While the Ballaz come into this series with a highly potent offence of 76.2 points per game, second only to the Bandits, they will be without the services of their number two scorer in Richard Troyer, who, we understand, has returned to the United States for personal reasons. This, obviously, should have some adverse impact on team chemistry, and will undoubtedly shorten their bench. In a short series there is no room for error; the Ballaz must quickly find a reliable secondary scorer. Good for them, they have a cluster of talent to choose from in the likes of Daniel Nolberto, Elsworth Itza, Brandon Flowers, James Milton and Belizean American Gene Myvett.

Generally speaking, the Sharks have owned the Ballaz, and this has held to form during the course of 2017, with the Sharks winning convincingly in both games by an average margin of 19.5 points. They essentially outplayed the Ballaz in all facets of the game: offensive efficiency, rebounding, ball distribution, and team defense. Contributing significantly to the Sharks' success was the league's MVP, George Williams, who had his way in the two games, averaging 21 points per game, while dishing out 4.5 assist per game. On the flipside, Leslie has had sub-par performances, averaging a mere 9.5 points per game and 4.0 rebounds per game. This clearly will not get it done; even more so, given the loss of Troyer, who had a big game (22 points 5 rebounds) in their last meeting.

To summarize, we've got a perennial NEBL powerhouse in the Tiger Sharks, with their eyes affixed on a third championship; and an aging super-star in Leslie playing for keeps, as he pursues a fourth consecutive championship, which should put him in a class all by himself in Belize's basketball history books. These plots make for a very entertaining semi-final round, and if we would base our analysis on the way this series has been one-sided, we would infer a very short series. But these are the playoffs, and super-stars traditionally have risen to the challenge.

Amandala