Matthew Pierre Academy (MPA) and New Chapter Academy (NCA) men`s teams recorded victories on the opening night of the Monarch Basketball Classic Tournament held at the UWI-SPEC, St Augustine on Thursday.

In the opening match of the tournament hosted by UWI St Augustine, MPA defeated visitors University of Guyana (UG) 77-71. The Guyanese led after the first quarter 22-21, but MPA took a 42-40 lead into half-time because of a slim 21-18 second-quarter advantage. However, MPA turned on the heat in the third quarter, extending their lead to 59- 46 following a triumphant 17-6 third quarter. UG had an improved fourth quarter recording 25 points while MPA added just 18 points. It was a valiant effort by the Guyanese, but MPA held onto a six-point victory winning 77-71.

Josiah James led the scorers for MPA notching 16 points, four assists, nine rebounds. UG`s Kadeem Peterkin added a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds.

In the next match, NCA led from the jump to win comfortably against UWI St. Augustine 67-54. The game started briskly but it was NCA being more clinical at the rim. They carried a seven-point lead 37-30 into the interval. UWI looked more assured in the second half but couldn't dent the scoring of NCA who claimed the 13-point win 67-54. NCA`s Jaden Roberts led the scoring with 16 points whilst UWI`s Nathan Inniss scored eight points.

The tournament continues at the same venue from 9am-8pm on Saturday and 3-8pm on Sunday. The participating teams are UWI St Augustine, University of Guyana, Matthew Pierre Academy, New Chapter Global Sport Academy and Royalty Basketball Academy. The main objective of the tournament is to provide a pathway for promising players to showcase their abilities and pursue higher-level opportunities in the world of basketball.

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