Vincy Baller Helps Team to Play Offs

Vincentians continue to put an imprint in different spheres of the basketball scene in North America.

Making waves in Canada is Shawn Browne. A player with the Montreal Matrix in the American Basketball Association (ABA), Browne is one of the hot hands on his team. {{more}}

The 6’6” Browne, drafted from Virginia Tech in the NCAA, has helped the Matrix to the play offs. Currently in position three in the Roger Brown Division, Matrix meet the Buffalo Rapids in the first round of the play offs.

Browne, formerly from Du Bois in the South Leeward constituency, first donned the national colours in 1999, when this country hosted the Windwards tournament. He was voted the Most Valuable Player for this country and the entire tournament. Browne last appeared for the country of his birth in the Caribbean Championships in St. Thomas in 2002. One who has this country close to his heart, Browne is expected to be part of the team at the CBC Tournament in Jamaica in June.

Another carrying the Vincentian flag high in North America is Simeon Mars.

The former national player, who came to the fore in 1984 in local basketball circles, is the personal trainer of NBA player Jamal Maglorie of the Milwaukee Bucks.

Mars’ association with Maglorie dates back to the NBA player’s formative years in college. Mars was the Administrative Assistant at Kentucky University, and oversaw Maglorie’s progress there.

Mars, along with the deceased Leon Bynoe, was summoned from their adopted home in Canada then, to be part of this country’s basketball team for the Windward Islands tournament, when the sport was going through a rebirth.

The achievements of Browne and Mars complement the more publicised accomplishments of NBA player Adonal Foyle, WNBA Sancho Lyttle of the Houston Comets and Sophia Young in the NCAA.

Foyle who represents Golden State Warriors became the first Vincentian to play in the NBA and paved the way for Lyttle to emulate him in the women’s.

Young is also positioned to enter the WNBA later this year.

Seeking to continue the Vincentian presence are Wendy Young, Narwan Saxon, John Gardiner, Alexis Foyle, Shanna Browne, Shedrock Roome, Aviann Mayers, Abraham Saxon, among others who are on basketball scholarships and attending various colleges in the USA.