CAP-HAITIEN — A team of former NBA players defeated the city’s All-Star University 69-64 in an exhibition game at a sold-out Gymnasium Champs de Mars.
“It felt good to win but I was kind of rooting for you guys,” Jermaine Taylor, SportsPower International shooting guard and ex-Houston Rockets player, told The Haitian Times after the game. “They fought back hard and the crowd was into it. Their players were really good.”
SportsPower International is a non-profit organization based in Baltimore, Maryland with the mission of changing “the lives of people who are hurting” through basketball. During its four-day trip in Cap-Haitien, SportsPower scouted the city for a potential project, hosted a basketball clinic May 28 and played the exhibition game May 29.
SportsPower’s team is made of retired players from the NBA, Europe and college basketball.
All-Star University’s team consisted of some of the best college and Innovation Basketball Okap (IBO) professional players in Cap-Haitien.
“We were defending our country, especially Cap-Haitien,” said Séjour Cox, from Université Notre Dame D’Haïti (UNDH).
All-Star head coach Wesly Jérôme said he is satisfied with how SportsPower International was welcomed in Cap-Haitien and congratulated his players for putting on a good performance.
“I’d like for the people to come watch basketball while it’s getting a little better,” Jérôme said. “I want the country to have true basketball camps.”