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TORTOLA, British Virgin Islands — St. Kitts and Nevis has etched its name into regional basketball history after capturing the inaugural Association of National Olympic Committees of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (ANOECS) Under-23 Men’s 3-on-3 Basketball Championship title in dominant fashion in the British Virgin Islands.

Playing with relentless pace, intensity, and confidence, the St. Kitts and Nevis team powered past St. Vincent and the Grenadines 20-15 in Sunday afternoon’s championship clash at the Multipurpose Sports Complex in Tortola to secure the historic crown.

The tournament victory marked a major breakthrough moment for basketball development in the Federation and showcased the growing emergence of young local talent on the regional stage.

Leading the charge for St. Kitts and Nevis was sensational standout J’aven Osbourne, who erupted for a game-high 12 points in the final and finished as the tournament’s leading scorer with an impressive 43 points overall. Osbourne proved nearly unstoppable throughout the competition, helping SKN pull away after the championship contest was locked at 8-8 midway through the game.

St. Vincent and the Grenadines fought valiantly, with Marrol Sam scoring seven points in the final and Renson Dublin adding six, but the relentless tempo and physicality of the St. Kitts and Nevis squad ultimately proved too much to contain.

Speaking to the Virgin Islands Daily News following the victory, St. Kitts and Nevis head coach Sheldon Chiverton Blake credited preparation, tactical adjustments, and the team’s conditioning for the triumph.

“In the game, we analyzed the players and were able to make adjustments accordingly and develop plays along the way,” Blake explained. “We beat them in the round robin, so we were accustomed to how they play and we kept watching to see how they adjusted their plays.”

He added: “After a while, they got exhausted trying to keep up with our team. They tried a different strategy, then went back to what they knew. They tried to get two and they weren’t dropping, but we just overpowered them.”

Coach Blake described the historic title as a major stepping stone for the future of basketball in St. Kitts and Nevis.

“We practice three times a week,” he revealed. “We have a development squad of about 10-12 players and we want to travel to more tournaments and get St. Kitts out there because we’re a small island and want to put St. Kitts on the map for basketball.”

The road to the championship was nothing short of dominant for the SKN squad.

St. Kitts and Nevis opened the tournament Saturday with a commanding 21-11 victory over Dominica before dismantling St. Vincent and the Grenadines 21-8 in round-robin action. The Federation then closed out preliminary play with another emphatic performance, defeating host nation British Virgin Islands 21-10 to secure a place in the championship game undefeated.

After losing heavily to SKN in the opening stages, St. Vincent and the Grenadines regrouped impressively to book their place in the final. SVG rallied from a three-point deficit to edge Dominica 14-12 before defeating Grenada 18-12 in the semifinal round.

Meanwhile, the British Virgin Islands captured the bronze medal after avenging an earlier defeat to Grenada with a 17-13 victory in the third-place game.

Dominica finished fifth after narrowly defeating St. Lucia 16-14.

The tournament also featured several standout individual performances, including British Virgin Islands player Amarlee Glasgow, who finished with 20 tournament points, and Grenada’s Michael Ceckley, who ended as the tournament’s second-leading scorer with 21 points despite being limited to just two in the bronze medal game.

For St. Kitts and Nevis, however, the story belonged to a fearless young squad that delivered a historic championship performance and signaled that the Federation is rapidly emerging as a force in regional 3×3 basketball.

The championship triumph now places renewed attention on the continued growth and development of basketball in St. Kitts and Nevis, with many sports supporters hopeful that this historic victory will inspire greater investment, expanded youth programmes, and more international opportunities for the nation’s rising stars.