The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

THE local sporting community includes Bahamians from every segment of the community. Everyone from weekend warriors to former collegiate and professional athletes were represented and collaborated to make 2013 a year to remember in local sports.

Comeback ‘Bots

Strike Twice

For the Mailboat Cybots, a dominant season ended in fitting fashion when they captured the Bahamas Basketball Federation national title.

The Cybots took the nation’s second city by storm and claimed the BBF’s national championship with a 91-90 thriller over the home team, Mega Hit Stars, in Grand Bahama back in April.

As he did in the closing game of the New Providence Basketball Association championship series finale, Brian Bain again stepped up at the free throw line with late game heroics.

Bain split a pair at the line with six seconds left to play to give the Cybots the edge and Avalon Kelly’s final shot at the buzzer came up short as the Cybots claimed the title.

Ernest Saunders flirted with a triple double to earn MVP honours with a team high 24 points, eight assists and seven rebounds.

Double-double machine Eugene Bain finished with 20 points and 19 rebounds, while Brian Bain added 21 points. Clemente Martin led all scorers with a game high 38 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists. Kyle Grant added 19 points and 10 rebounds while Scott Forbes chipped in with 10 points and nine rebounds.

The Mega Hit Stars led by as much as 17 and controlled the scoreboard for over 36 minutes, while the Cybots never led by more than four points and held the advantage for just 1:33.

The Cybots won their first NPBA title since 2009 last with a hard fought series win over the Commonwealth Bank Giants.

In the series finale, the Cybots overcame a 23-point deficit in the series clincher, capped by the aforementioned free throws from Brian Bain.

National Family Island

Regatta - One of the

Best Ever?

Commodore Danny Strachan had a myriad of reasons why he considered this year’s regatta the best ever. Held as a part of the Bahamas’ 40th Independence celebrations, the regatta once again attracted more than 60 boats in four days of intense sailing in Elizabeth Harbour in Georgetown, Exuma.

“This was perhaps the best regatta we’ve had in the 60 years,” Strachan said. “The sailing, the onshore activities and the thousands of persons who came to Exuma really made this a regatta to remember. I was very pleased with the way everything went. We had great weather and the competition was keen from all of the boats.”

The Tida Wave, skippered by Brooks Miller, won the A Class Prime Minister’s Cup, the New Susan Chase, skippered by Mark Knowles, took the B Class Governor General’s Cup and the C Class Commodore Emeritus Cup went to the Whitty K, skippered by Stefon Knowles.

At the end of the series of races in the various classes, the top performers were as follows:

A Class - Red Stride, skippered by Lundy Robinson, 32 points; Running Tide, skippered by Roger Fox, 26; Rupert’s Legend, skippered by Stefon Knowles, 25; New Courageous, skippered by Emmit Munroe, was fourth and the Tida Wave, skippered by Brooks Miller, rounded out the top five.

B Class - Eudeva, skippered by Lundy Robinson (33 points); Ants Nest, skippered by Lee Armbrister (30); Lonesome Dove, skippered by Jeff Gale (28); Lady Nathalie, skippered by Cedric Ferguson (24) and New Susan Chase, skippered by Mark Knowles (22).

C Class - Whitty K, skippered by Stefon Knowles, accumulated a total of 86 points for the victory, just one ahead of second place Sacrifice, skippered by Colin Cartwright. Bulla Reg, skippered by Buzzy Rolle, got third with 77. Crazy Partner, skippered by Lundy Robinson, was fourth; Lady Eunice, skippered by Maurice Rolle, came in fifth; Beerly Legal, skippered by Marty Fox, was sixth and Sweet Island Gal, skippered by Keith Brown, got seventh.

E Class - One Bahamas, skippered by Stephen Rolle; Judgement Day, skippered by Lloyd Sands and Sands Beer, skippered by Sheldon Gibson.

In the junior championships, the Bahamas Hot Mix, skippered by Todd Knowles, won followed by Q, skippered by Celine Cartwright. Old Faithful, skippered by Colin Cartwright Jr, completed the top three.

Cuckoos Take First

Heineken Bahamas Cup

FOR the second consecutive year, Cuckoos Rugby Club claimed the Bahamas Rugby Football Union Championship and the first edition of what is now known as the Heineken Bahamas Cup.

Cuckoos took the Cup final with a 27-24 win over Buccaneers Rugby Club at the Winton Rugby Centre back in April.

Jeremico Cooper, who was named the season MVP, was also named championship MVP for Cuckoos while David Bethel was named MVP for the Bucs.

In a resurgent year for the Buccaneers, they scored a 17-16 win over Cuckoos in early in the season, followed by claiming the tournament title in the Boxing Day Sevens tournament, but came up short in their first Cup final in nearly two decades.

Baillou captured the Nassau Cup this season with a win over the Bucs.

The Bucs rebounded to top Baillou in the Heineken Cup semis and earn a berth in the championship game.

Pros reclaim

Boil Fish Bowl

In their 40th year of existence as a club, the Orry J Sands Pros regained the Boil Fish Bowl title in 2013 against a bitter rival and said goodbye to a Commonwealth American Football League icon as he walked away from the game on the field.

The Pros reclaimed the Boil Fish Bowl title with a 30-12 win over the defending champion V8-Fusion Stingrays in February.

The Stingrays ended the Pros consecutive title streak of seven years, but a resilient Orry J Sands squad overcame the league’s pennant winners when it mattered most.

The Stingrays came into the game with a perfect 8-0 regular season, while the Pros finished 5-3.

Charles Edwards was named the game’s Most Valuable Player for the eighth time in his illustrious career.

The Pros also saw the retirement of longtime quarterback Michael Foster who walked away from the game after 32 years as a starter with the club and 17 championship titles.

Foster’s final throw of his career was a 10-yard touchdown pass to Devaughn Bain, which turned out to be the final score of the game.

The teams split both regular season matchups thus far in the 2013-14 campaign, setting the tone for a possible third championship matchup when the season reconvenes in January.

BSF National

Round Robin

The Sigma Brackettes and Abaco Bulldogs were the ladies and men’s national champions respectively.

The Brackettes cooled off the red hot Portside Flyers from Grand Bahama to win the Bahamas Softball Federation’s 2013 ladies’ national championship crown while the Bulldogs came from behind to squeeze past Grand Bahama’s Elnet Excel Eliminators 5-3 in the gold-medal game.

Behind the six-hit, two strike-out performance from most valuable player Ernestine Stubbs, the Brackettes managed to hold off the Flyers 5-2 at the Baillou Hills Sporting Complex to complete the four-day tournament with a perfect 6-0 record, including two previous victories over their arch-rivals.

On the men’s side, Manager Hazel McDonald said his Creter’s Bulldogs’ triumph as the new men’s champions in the Bahamas Softball Federation was a result of a group of guys coming together from all across the island of Abaco, including its surrounding cays.

The Bulldogs left New Providence as champions after they dismantled the Arnette’s Sporting Lounge Hitmen 2-0 in the bronze-medal game and two hours later, came back to take gold.

“It feels good, wonderful. It’s been a hard fight. It was a hard-fought battle. But coming down here, we knew that we had the team to win it, but it was still a hard-fought battle,” McDonald said. “When you have the best out of Grand Bahama and the best out of New Providence, plus you have Spanish Wells there, it’s special.

“It’s special for us because we beat Alcott (Forbes) from New Providence, who is one of the best pitchers and to come back and beat Edney (Bethel) from Grand Bahama, who is the best pitcher, it couldn’t get any better than this. It was a hard-fought battle all the way.”

Giants Make History

The Bahamas Basketball Federation’s Summer of Thunder is aimed at providing exposure for the Bahamas’ elite level basketball players exposure against top flight collegiate talent and to give those programmes an opportunity to hone their skills in the preseason.

The Manhattan College Jaspers were hoping to return home to Riverdale, New York, with a perfect run through the series of exhibitions but the Commonwealth Bank Giants ruined their trip by stunning the Jaspers 88-82. It was the first win for a local Bahamian team against a visiting US college in the five-year history of the series.

“It was wonderful that we can finally get a win,” said Giants’ coach Perry Thompson. “We sat down and decided that we didn’t want to go through this series without getting a victory. So we came out here and looked at the team (when they played the Stingers) and we decided to go with the crew who sustained us more defensively and that paid off for us.”

Forward Eugene Bain pumped in a game high 24 points, while sharp shooter Ricardo Pierre connected on 13 points in the fourth quarter, finishing with 20. Gamaliel Rose had 17, including 10 in the third and Jermaine Storr made his presence felt with 12.

Commonwealth Bank trailed 50-36 at the half, but they turned things around in the second half, going on a 22-8 rampage in the third for a 58-58 tie.

The fourth quarter was the difference with the Giants using a 29-24 spurt to take the win.

Mike Alvarado scored 17 to pace the Jaspers. Rhamel Brown had 11 points and Emmy Andijar chipped in with 10.