SURINAME retained their Inter Guiana Games (IGG) basketball title after winning the second of the ‘best of three’ series yesterday 91-84.
Fans who crammed into the Ismay Van Welgin Sports Hall in Paramaribo were entertained by Guyana’s Kevon Wiggins and Timothy Thomas who created much trouble for the Surinamese defence.

Guyana trailed for much of the game, until Wiggins and Thomas found some rhythm and clawed Guyana back into the game.
Abdullah Hamid’s men had a distinct size advantage with Akeem Crandon and Jermaine King manning the paint, but it was Suriname’s sensational shooting that kept them in the lead.

The refereeing also didn’t help Guyana, and their supporters were furious with what they felt was bias officiating.
Wiggins, who finished with the game-high 28 points, and Thomas (24), were the players keeping Guyana in the game until Nigel Bowen found his form. Bowen finished with 13 points.

The game was exciting, but Suriname kept control of the game, dictating the tempo and flow and would hold on to win another IGG Basketball title.
After the game, Hamid didn’t hold back his words and lashed out at the poor officiating.
“When you have players going home knowing that they played their best only to have the game decided by referees, it doesn’t look good on the games, and if they can’t fix this issue, then basketball should withdraw until they can find referees from other countries” Hamid said.

Known popularly as ‘Zico’, Hamid also told reporters “The guy’s did their best. We shouldn’t had loss the first game, and I think they basically give up after everything they did the referees called against them.”