The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net THE Elite Eight dwindled down to the Final Four last night as the 30th Hugh Campbell Basketball Classic heads into its finale Monday night. CC Sweeting Cobras -56 Queens College Comets - 37 The second matchup between the two teams in this year's tournament followed nearly the same script as the first, huge runs by the Cobras to lead early and pull away late. Roosevelt Whylly led three Cobras in double figures with his third double of the tournament, 13 points and 12 rebounds. Angelo Lockhart finished with 10 points and five assists while Rashad Davis came off the bench to finish with 11. George Zonicle and Wilton Johnson led the Comets with 11 apiece, while Larecus Armbrister added eight. The Cobras' full court trap was the deciding factor in the first quarter with defense leading to easy offense early on. Lockhart gave CC Sweeting their first two- digit advantage with a fastbreak layup to take an 11-1 lead. Queens College was held without a field goal in the opening period as CC Sweeting took a 22-4 lead after one. The Comets scored their first basket on the opening possession of the second when Zonicle made a baseline jumper. However, they couldn't pull within a single digit margin. The Cobras led 43-30 heading into the fourth and Davis scored nine of his 11 in the final period as CC pulled away to advance. RM Bailey Pacers - 68 Sunland Stingers - 64 In a rematch of last year's championship game, the Pacers came out on top yet again to become the most surprising entry to this year's final four. Tario McKenzie played just two minutes but his clutch free throw gave the Pacers breathing room and a 66-64 lead with just 15.4s left to play. After a missed layup by Sunland, Jeremy Nelly went to the line and made a pair to give the Pacers a two-possession lead and the game's final margin. Nelly came off the bench to finish with a team high 20 points, including 3-6 from beyond the arch. Kenrico Lockhart finished with 13 points and 12 rebounds, Jahman Delancy added 14 while Dario McKenzie chipped in with nine points and six steals. Giovanni Poitier led the Stingers with a game high 23 points, Narrando Jones finished with 15, Delronn Edgecombe added 12 and MacDonald Jeanlouis added 10. Sunland led 56-55 with 3:21 left to play, when Nelly finished with a three-point play which also forced Poitier to foul out. They again led 59-58 before the Pacers closed on a 9-4 run. Lockhart, regained the lead for the Pacers with a tip in, Marjele Ingraham drained a deep jumper just before the shot clock expired and Delancey's steal and three-point play capped a 7-0 run to give the Pacers a 65-59 lead with 1:22 left to play. Sunland got off to a quick start in the first quarter and took an early 10-point lead, 14-4 on a breakaway dunk by Poitier, but the Pacers would rally and take a 19-16 lead at the end of the first and led 39-35 at the half. The Stingers outscored the Pacers 12-6 in the third quarter and took a 47-47 tie into the fourth. RM Bailey opened the fourth quarter on an 8-0 run before Sunland would make a run of their own in a final period which featured four ties and five lead changes. CI Gibson Rattlers - 71 Agape - 34 The GSSSA champions and tournament favourites cruised to the final four with a blowout win in the third Pool Championship. It took just three minutes for the Rattlers to take a 10-point lead when Justin Gardiner finished a three-point play for a 13-3 lead early in the first quarter. CI Gibson went deep into its bench early on and took a 17-7 lead at the end of the first quarter. The lead reached 20 for the first time when Alcott Fox finished a fastbreak layup for a 30-9 with 4:42 left to play in the second quarter. The Rattlers took a 34-16 lead into the half and 50-24 headed into the fourth quarter. In the fourth, the lead reached 30 when Shakwon Lewis banked home a runner for a 60-30 advantage. Lewis, who finished with 11 points, gave the Rattlers their biggest lead of the game with a three-pointer for a 69-32 lead. Fox led the Rattlers with 12 points, Levardo Mezidor added 10 points and 14 rebounds while William Rigby finished with eight points and nine rebounds. Jaron Cornish led Agape and all scorers with 19 points. Eight Mile Rock Bluejays - 66 CR Walker Knights - 55 The Bluejays prevented an all New Providence Final Four with a dominant performance in the final game of the evening. Erin Lewis was dominant inside with 14 points, 20 rebounds and four blocks to spark the Bluejays advancement to the semifinals. Roane Gibson added 17 points while Keanu Woodside finished with 19 points and eight rebounds. Prince Braynen finished with 17 points to lead the Knights, Laquarn Nairn added 16 points while Van Hutchinson chipped in with 10 points and 19 rebounds. After a first quarter which featured four ties and five lead changes, the Knights went ahead to take a 16-12 lead after the first. They led by as much as 10 on a Hutchinson bucket, 25-15 before the Bluejays stormed back. They ended the quarter on a 15-4 run and went into the half trailing by just one, 30-29. The Bluejays took the lead on the opening possession of the third on a jumper from Woodside and never trailed again in the second half. They took their first double-digit lead on a Gibson layup against a porous Knights interior defense, 46-35. CR Walker's comeback effort came within four when Nashad Mackey's three-pointer trimmed the deficit, 55-51 with 2:25 left to play, but in a foul-prone quarter, the Bluejays were able to seal the win from the free throw line late in the game. Today's Schedule 11am - Eight Mile Rock vs RM Bailey 12pm - CI Gibson vs CC Sweeting Championship Game begins at 8pm.