The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

Coach Trevor Grant got a chance to celebrate another Government Secondary Schools Sports Association senior boys title.

And this time he did it with his nephew Van Hutchinson Jr leading the charge for the CR Walker Knights at the Kendal Isaacs Gymnasium on Saturday night.

Grant, who won his last title in 2008 with his son Trevano Grant leading the way, put the ball in the hands of Hutchinson Jr, who shone for the Knights with 21 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and two steals to earn the most valuable player award in their 63-61 victory to snatch a 2-1 decision in their best-of-three championship series over the RM Bailey Pacers.

“Winners never quit. Nobody expected us to come this far. Everybody had us down, but our coach told us to keep focused,” Hutchinson Jr said. “All we did was believed in ourselves, put our faith in God and he was able to pull us through. We won the championship.”

Although he won a Bahamas Association of Independent Secondary Schools (BAISS) championship when he played for the Westminster Diplomats under coach Geno Bullard, Hutchinson said this one was sweet because he did it with his uncle coaching him and the Knights.

“I had to prove to everyone that I could win the big one,” Hutchinson Jr said. “I missed some free throws. That’s human nature. No man is an island. That’s why I have my team-mates behind me and my coach on the side of me. We did it together as a team.”

The GSSSA completed what turned out to be a competitive championship series that went right down the wire in all of the divisions on Saturday.

The CV Bethel Stingrays upset CR Walker for the senior girls title, the DW Davis Pitbulls prevailed once again over the SC McPherson Sharks for the junior boys’ crown and the AF Adderley Fighting Tigers stunned the HO Nash Lions to finally win the junior girls’ crown.

Knights 63, Pacers 61

While Hutchinson led their attack in the victory, a grieving DeVontee Gibson canned a free throw to put CR Walker up for good, 61-59 with a minute and four seconds left. With 11.6 seconds after Hutchinson missed both of his charity shots, Gibson grabbed an offensive rebound, was fouled and sealed the final score on the first of his two free throws.

“It feels very good that we won and now we’re carrying the championship title back to CR Walker,” said Gibson, whose sister Shante was found dead at their Fox Hill home on Friday. “I tried to come out very strong. It was a tough loss for our family, but I’m very happy that our team won.”

Many say the championship wasn’t a true indication of the two best teams in the GSSSA in action after defending champions CI Gibson Rattlers and the Hugh Campbell Basketball Classic champions CC Sweeting Cobras were both suspended and not allowed to play in the post season.

But Grant said they didn’t do anything wrong and deserved to be playing the Pacers after they both earned the right to square off in the big dance and he had the best musician in Hutchinson Jr to get the job done.

“Once we played CR Walker basketball, I knew that we would win the championship,” Grant said. “My nephew Van Hutchinson is the best basketball player in the Bahamas. I don’t think there is anybody in the Caribbean or the United States who has the potential to play like him. I told him that he’s getting ready to come out of high school, he needs to win a championship to seal the deal and that is what he did.”

RM Bailey got a game high 27 points with seven rebounds from Dario McKenzie. Eric Phyform added 14 points with 14 rebounds.

Despite losing, coach Nigel Ingraham said his Pacers played as best as they could.

“I love these boys because they fought to the end. The Lord is good,” he said. “We could have had better officiating, but God is good. Sometimes you have to start from the bottom to get to the top and you get from the top to the bottom. We were on top before, now we are at the bottom. But we just have to climb our way back to the top.”

Pacers 66, Knights 65

Bertram Minnis scored 17 points with 10 rebounds, Lashad Bastian had 15 points and 11 rebounds and Tario McKenzie helped out with 11 as RM Bailey won game two on Friday night. Van Hutchinson had a game high 24 points with 12 rebounds and Joseph Roberts added 17 points with six rebounds in the loss.

Knights 87, Pacers 83

Van Hutchinson Jr had his best game of the series with 28 points, 21 rebounds, six steals and four assists in CR Walkers’ double overtime win on Thursday. Joseph Roberts added 28 points with seven rebounds. In the loss, Tario McKenzie had 16 points, Crispin Gibson 15, Eric Pyfrom 14 and Lamar Hanna 12 points with 10 rebounds.

SENIOR GIRLS SERIES

Stingrays 28, Knights 14

Valerie Nesbitt had 12 points, while Angel Miller had seven points with 15 rebounds as CV Bethel clinched the championship title on Saturday. Kaylisa Laing had four points with five rebounds to lead CR Walker.

Stingrays 29, Knights 27

Shavonya Adderley scored a game high 12 points with six rebounds and Angel Miller added 11 points with 15 rebounds in CV Bethel’s win in game two on Friday. Paultisha Clarke had 11 points in a losing effort.

Knights 36, Stingrays 34

Chelly Australe and Laylisa Laing had 15 and 12 points respectively to lead CR Walker to their only victory in the opener of the series on Thursday. Angel Miller had 14 points with 24 rebounds in the loss. Valerie Nesbitt added seven points.

JUNIOR BOYS SERIES

Pitbulls 35, Sharks 23

Adderley St Dick came up with 10 points as he helped DW Davis finish the series 2-1 to win the title. Philip Ingraham had eight and Leander Adderley chipped in with seven. In the loss, Harry Rolle had nine points.

Sharks 42, Pitbulls 14

Shjerman Marshall scored a game high 14 points, Darin Johnson had 11 and Andrew Sands seven in the win for SC McPherson in game two on Friday. Charles Cooper had 11, James Cepardy eight and Deangelo Evans seven in the loss.

Pitbulls 49, Sharks 23

Charles Cooper scored a game high 12 points and Deangelo Evans added seven for DW Davis’ opening victory on Thursday. Sherman Marshall had 11 in the loss.

JUNIOR GIRLS SERIES

Fighting Tigers 32, Lions 31

Terre Rolle had four of her 13 points and Renique Brown produced all eight of her points in the second half as AF Adderley rallied from a 16-12 deficit at the half to pull off the series 2-1 and the championship upset. Antonya Fertil scored a game high 25 in the loss.

“We thought we had it yesterday, but they told us we had to come back because of a technicality,” said AF Adderley’s coach Vincent Sullivan. “I told them it’s nothing to lose. Let’s go back and play defense and we will win. We had to go down to our bench and we were able to pull it off.”

For coach Patricia Johnson, it was a rare championship loss.

“I’m very proud of the girls. They tried very hard,” said Johnson after the loss. “We came up a little short defensively, but I think they still did a good job. We couldn’t do any better than that. I thought we had it, but when they (Fighting Tigers) rallied up, I knew it was going to be tough. We just have to go back to practice on Monday. No problem.”

Lions 37, Fighting Tigers 36

In a protested game, HO Nash got the win after it was originally given to AF Adderley. The dispute came after Terrel Rolle had scored what was the winning basket for AF Adderley. But after reviewing the play on a television camera, the officials ruled that time had expired before she released the ball.

Antonya Fertil led the Lions with a game high 29 points. Rolle finished with 15 for the Fighting Tigers, who also got 12 from Lucianna Miller and nine from Denique Mackey.

Fighting Tigers 26, Lions 25

Robyn Porter scored eight points, six in the second half as AF Adderley came from a 13-10 half-time deficit to pull off the win in the opener on Thursday. Terrel Rolle had four and Lucianna Miller three. Antonya Fertil scored a game high 24 points in the loss.