The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

LIVING up to their name, the Showtime Basketball Club put on a show at the HOYTES Sir Randol Fawkes Labour Day Basketball Classic in Grand Bahama.

The club, coached by Maurice Fawkes, brought back a huge share of the hardware after they won two of the four championship titles and finished as the runners-up in the other two.

Fawkes earned two coaching titles and players Deangelo Mackey and Dylan Comarcho won most valuable player honours.

Showtime captured the crowns in both the boys 9-10 and 13-14 divisions and was runners-up in the 11-12 and second runner-up in the 7-8 divisions, leaving Fawkes smiling from ear to ear as he now prepares his teams for the Peace on the Street Basketball Tournament.

“Once you set your discipline from here in practice, it ain’t too bad,” Fawkes said. “I had a lot of parents who also went down, so that helped. It was just a matter of making sure that they did what they had to do.”

Looking at his team’s performance, Fawkes said while the 7-8 team played for the first time, they gave a good account of themselves and it only bodes well for Showtime as they look forward to next year’s tournament.

“We lost the 11-12 by two points. We had a play set up, but our guy inbounded the ball to the wrong man,” he said. “I’ve seen a lot of improvement in the players during the tournament and that was what I was looking for.”

As for the competition, Fawkes said except for the 13-14 division where they easily won, they had some tough battles in the other divisions. This was the seventh time that Fawkes has participated in the tournament and they were able to keep their streak of winning at least two titles.

Mackey, the former star for the Our Lady’s Blue Flames now shining for the St Augustine’s College Big Red Machine, was the MVP for the 13-14 team.

He said it was a good experience and he enjoyed playing for coach Fawkes and with his team-mates.

“We just went out there and did what we had to do,” he said. “The competition was good, but we just went out there and tried our best to win and that was what we did. We worked on their weak areas and we got the job done.”

Comarcho, the winner of the 9-10 MVP, said it was a lot of fun. “Some of the games were hard, but we pulled it off,” said Comarcho, who attends St Cecilia’s Primary School.

“We were passing the ball and me and my partner were scoring a lot, so it wasn’t that hard. Our coach pushed us, but he didn’t push us that hard.”

Fawkes expressed his gratitude to the Prescription Parlour Pharmacy and Roberts Furniture, who assisted with providing their uniforms.

Now he said Showtime is preparing to defend their titles in the 13-and-under and 19-and-under divisions. This year, however, they will also be participating in the 16-and-under and open division and they are looking at taking all four titles.