St. Maarten fall short of winning Battle of the Fittest 2018

Tortola Champions again. Fans came out and filled the auditorium to watch St. Maarten go up against the champion team Tortola for the final game of the regional basketball annual tournament “Battle of the Fittest” on Saturday night. Both teams met in the early stages of the tournament and St. Maarten was able to win that contest by a close margin. St. Maarten was unbeaten throughout the whole competition having won all their games until the final game to determine the championship.

Until half time the home team was down by only 5 points and looking still to be in the contest while heading to the locker room at the end of the second quarter. By the time they came back on the court to start the second half the feeling of a fight down to the wire was still in the minds of their fans until several turnovers of which Tortola capitalized and the lead begins to reach double digits.

At this time those extra points push the lead high enough to put the game out of reach but St. Maarten continue fighting. Tortola never looked back and St. Maarten without two of their best players who were out due to injury were unable to build any kind of momentum to get back in the game.

St. Maarten had to settle for second place having lost the only game of the tournament when it counted the most. Final score St. Maarten 64 Tortola 88. Tortola champs again for a third time in a row. St Maarten had done well to reach this far when one considers how badly they have performed in the past tournaments and to have beaten Tortola this time around should send a message that they can win this tournament.

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