Basketball Season Has Begun

Hotel Voice — December 16, 2013

The Hotel Employees Basketball League’s 2013-14 season got off to a great start this week with three games, one of which was a rematch of last year’s title contest.

In that rematch of last season’s championship game, the defending champs from the Hilton New York overcame a nine point halftime deficit to defeat the Trump Soho 50-47. Joseph Navas was Hilton’s top scorer with 14, but it was Duani Pereira’s 10 second-half points that sparked the comeback for the Hilton. Josue Grassals netted 21 in a strong effort for the Trump Soho.

In a second game on opening night, Andre Sweet led all scorers with 26 points as the Eventi spoiled the Doubletree Metropolitan’s inaugural game with a 59-31 win. Christopher Campbell added 10 points in his Eventi debut. The Doubletree’s Kelvis Pena (11) and Mario Meade (9) did most of their scoring in the second half, as well as the rest of the Doubletree squad, as they started to find their groove.

In the final game on opening night, Charles Foreman scored 10 of his 13 points in the second half as the Mandarin Oriental outlasted the Westin Grand Central 42-33. Lamont Dugue scored 15 as the Westin Warriors took an early 8-2 lead, before Douglas McArthur and Andres Nattes scored 8 and 6 points respectively late in the first half to give the Mandarin Oriental a lead they would refuse to relinquish.

Opening night, seen here, featured a rematch of last year’s title game between the Hilton New York and the Trump Soho.