TORTOLA — Virgin Islands Elite whipped the Virgin Gorda Bayside Blazers 73-55 on Saturday night in a “what-if” game dubbed the “Final Chapter” of the King of the Courts’ Caribbean Basketball Championships.
V.I. Elite walked off the court at the Multipurpose Sports Complex with the “winner takes all” $20,000 prize, thanks to shooting at a 75% clip from 3-point range, scoring 27 of their points.
Leonardo Castillo finished with 22 points and four rebounds to lead V.I. Elite. Khalid Gerard added 15 points, while Zion Jones had 10.
Randy “Chino” George led the VG Bayside Blazers with 16 points. Tyohn Trimble added 15 points and Ronald Delp 10.
“This means the world, because we know what we’ve gone through in the last three weeks,” Castillo told The Daily News. “We had to keep proving ourselves, so I feel this win should solidify the V.I. Elite team.
“I just went with the rhythm of the game. The coach had a game plan in mind, we stuck to that game plan and everything went our way.”
The game emerged after V.I. Elite powered past Tola 100-91 to win $7,500 on June 7 in the “Relive the Shot” game. That came about after the May 17 King of the Courts semifinal game ended with a controversial call.
Jones made 4-point shot behind the line in the closing moments of the game, giving V.I. Elite a 71-70 advantage over Tola with 0.3 seconds left. However, the referee ruled the shot was a 3-pointer, tying the score at 70-all at the end of regulation. Tola went on to prevail 87-84 in overtime over the two-time defending champs, but lost to the Virgin Gorda Bayside Blazers 87-67 in the final.
After their win over Tola, King of the Courts organizer Steve Parillon announced a challenge for V.I. Elite to play VG Bayside Blazers for $10,000.
“We don’t play for that small money, we want $20,000,” V.I. Elite manager Julian Willock said, setting up the final “what if” showdown.
On Saturday night, the evenly-contested first half was tied at 34-34, only for V.I. Elite to take control with a 10-3 run to open the third quarter, building a 44-37 lead with 2:32 left.
V.I. Elite then used a series of outside shots to put the game away with a 27-16 fourth-quarter run.
According to V.I. Elite coach Lanese Bough, her team’s game plan was to stay focused and together, communicating with each other and most importantly, playing defense.
“At halftime, I told them to be poised, be calm because we were rushing a little too much and trading baskets and making a couple stops,” she said. “I told them we need those stops and have one possession at a time.
“The starting five set the tone, and those who came off the bench continued with that same energy, so all in all, the whole team.”
VG Bayside Blazers coach Trevor “West” Stevens said that the team that wanted it more won.
“My men were too relaxed and too overconfident,” he said. “We didn’t hit any (outside) shots, and then they were throwing the ball inside and had too many one on one and no picks. You have to set picks. They were supposed to work the ball inside and take their time but we were trying to rush playing one on one. We weren’t passing the ball enough.”
In reaching the final chapter, Parillon said it played out like a “Nancy story.”
“You had the controversial call, and by rights, the team who was to play in the final didn’t play in the final,” he said. “So you had the final that was to be — which is the ‘what if game.’
“We don’t know what would have happened originally in the final game, but the cash prize tonight was actually bigger than the ($15,000) cash prize for the tournament. This one game played a heavier weight than the entire tournament.”
V.I. Elite, Parillon said, played well and shot well, and brought it to the VG Bayside Blazers.
“You have to take your hats off to them,” Parillon said. “If you really look at it, Bayside Blazers are the champions by right of the tournament, and (V.I. Elite are) the champion of the bragging rights and they still went with the most money.”