The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

THE Providence Basketball Club’s Holiday Classic, featuring some of the top senior boys basketball teams in the country, got underway at the Kendal Isaacs Gym yesterday with the majority of the games played in the opening session ending up in blowouts.

The host CI Gibson Rattlers devoured the St John’s Giants 73-29, the Dame Doris Johnson Mystic Marlins knocked off the Aquinas College Aces 52-31, the CV Bethel Stingrays blasted the Kingsway Academy Saints 62-38 and the Queen’s College Comets held off Hope Academy 56-40.

The tournament, comprising of four different pools of five teams each, is slated to continue 10am today and run through Sunday when the pool playoffs, pool crossovers, consolation and championship games are played. There has been an adjustment to the schedule, so teams are advised to check with the tournament officials for the update.

Here’s a summary of yesterday’s opening session:

Rattlers 73, Giants 29

After opening an early 14-1 lead, CI Gibson held on to a 25-5 lead at the end of the first quarter and was never threatened as they blew away St John’s. They extended their lead to 38-15 at the half and posted a 56-23 advantage after three quarters.

Carlis Carey pumped in a game high 17 points, including 13 in the third quarter when they blew the game wide open. Quincy Poitier had 15, Oatman Lightbourne 11 and Randon Swaby chipped in with seven in the win.

“We haven’t played in a while, but coach Kevin Johnson and I were working hard over the last couple of weeks, trying to get them prepared for this tournament,” said Mark Hanna, who coached the team in the absence of Johnson. “I think we had a good first half, but in the second half we kind of slowed things down and run some more plays. But as the tournament goes on, we will only get better.”

Michael Wallace paced the Giants with 11 and Dwight Wheatley had eight.

“We got off to a sluggish start. Very tough one. Thank God for the experience right there,” said St John’s head coach Herbie Brown. “We tried to play CI Gibson basketball, which is a run up and down game. We play a half court game, so they put a spanking on us. But by the grace of God, we will come out and play our half court game instead of their transition game.”

Mystic Marlins 52,

Aces 31

Although they led 12-8 after the first quarter and 30-26 at the half, it wasn’t until the third quarter that Doris Johnson took command of this game with an 18-8 rout that pushed their lead to 48-34 going into the fourth quarter.

Brandon Stubbs exploded for 16 points, Dwayne Doreus had 12, Ja’Von Calderon eight and both Game Atilus and Donovan Rolle finished with six apiece in the win. Khristian Martinez and Joshua Murray scored 11 and nine respectively in a losing effort.

Stingrays 62, Saints 38

Using spurts of 16-11 in the first quarter, 15-9 in the second and 14-8 in the third, CV Bethel stayed ahead of Kingsway Academy to pull off their opener.

“We came out a little shaky. I felt they could have done a little better,” said Stingrays’ head coach Thurment Johnson. “We didn’t do too well on the transitional plays. That’s something that we have to work on. But as the tournament goes on, we hope to get better.”

Deangelo Miller paced Doris Johnson with a game high 12 points. Livingstone Bromwell and Deangelo Miller both had 10 and Drake Mills helped out with nine. Uriah Rolle ended up with eight.

For the Saints, Charlberto Darling and Carly Elisse both had eight.

Comets 56,

Hope Academy 40

After breaking an 11-11 tie at the end of the first quarter, Queen’s College went on a 12-7 spurt for a 23-18 lead at the half. They extended it to 35-26 at the end of the third and they used another 21-14 tear in the fourth to stay on top.

Lerecus Armbrister led a balanced attack with 15 points, Dominique Bethel had 13, Daejour Adderley 11 and Dion Brown six in the win.

“Sluggish. Sluggish,” were the first two words that Comets’ head coach Dwayne Smith used to describe his team’s performance. “We had a long break and some of the guys went away and stuff like that. But we managed to pull away in the end for the win. We are kind of banged up right now, but hopefully we will play a little better than we did in this game.”

Rickquile Bethel scored a game high 24 and Penchion Dwayne added eight in the loss.