The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

No Grand Bahama teams, no problem. The 28th Hugh Campbell Basketball Classic for senior boys is still going on at the AF Adderley Gymnasium.

The Jordan Prince Williams Falcons, one of the two teams granted late entry to replace the six Grand Bahama schools who decided to boycott this year’s tournament, prevailed with a 71-45 victory over the South Andros Barracudas to close out the first session on day three.

The Zion Academy Eagles, the other replacement, opened the day’s games by holding off the North Andros Cheetahs 41-39. The other game played in the session was won by the St John’s Giants 63-43 over the youthful Aquinas College Aces.

Yesterday was scheduled to see the start of the Grand Bahama teams in action. But according to tournament director Reggie Forbes, there were all sorts of rumours about why they all decided not to come.

He indicated that they didn’t get anything official, but their absence was in no way going to diminish the level of play from the other schools participating from New Providence, the Family Islands and the Turks and Caicos Islands.

“The games are going as planned, the hype and enthusiasm for the tournament is still in place,” Forbes said. “We are still expecting a high level of play because all of the pools are evenly balanced.”

All four pools are matched with seven teams each, instead of the original eight. The tournament is still projected to be completed on Monday night when the championship game is played at the Kendal Isaacs Gymnasium.

“We expect it to get better as we continue. This is only the third day,” Forbes said. “By Friday or Saturday, we should be able to see who are some of the better teams in terms of getting into the playoffs.”

But Forbes said that while the Grand Bahama teams have made the decision not to show up this year, he admitted that they are not going to belittle the other teams in the tournament because they all have the ability to win the title whether they are from New Providence or they are one of the teams coming in.

Falcons 71 Barracudas 45

Jordan Prince Williams got off to a slow start. In fact, Donovan Gray’s buzzer-beating around-the-world layup enabled them to pull away for a 43-39 at the end of the third. After building a 58-45 lead in the fourth, the Falcons soared to their first win as Rhandon Scott canned another buzzer beating jumper to end the game. “This is the first for the guys. They are very excited. Hats off to them. They worked hard,” said Falcons’ coach Ernest Saunders. “We will take it one game at a time. We don’t want to get too cocky, but we are looking forward to playing very well in the tournament.”

Jefferson Oliver scored 23 points and 10 rebounds, softball star Micah Bethel had 18 points, five rebounds and four steals and Scott finished with 17 points and seven rebounds.

South Andros got a game high 30 points with nine rebounds and four steals from Brendon Rolle while Dave Pratt had seven points and eight rebounds and Gibbon McKenzie helped out with six points.

“It was awesome, compared to last year. We have some new guys, mostly in the 10th grade,” said Barracudas’ coach Aaron Rolle. “We were actually leading in the first half, but the game just got away from us because we were just depending on one player.

“But we will go back to the drawing board and we will try to turn things around.”

Giants 63, Aces 43

The BAISS senior boys champions St John’s, rebounding from their 59-27 loss to the CC Sweeting Cobras in their first game, took their frustration out on Aquinas College, the BAISS junior boys’ runners-up.

The Giants opened a 15-7 lead, held onto a slim 28-23 margin at the half before surging ahead 51-32 at the end of the third to secure the win.

Dwight Wheatley led the attack with 20 points and 16 rebounds, Ayinde Maynard had 10 points and six rebounds and Bryan Clarke added eight points.

For the Aces, whose coach Craig ‘Rambo’ Smith is using his junior boys team that lost to St Augustine’s College Big Red Machine in the BAISS junior boys’ final, Tahj Moss scored a game high 25 points, eight rebounds and three steals. Michael Cartwright had seven and 12 rebounds and John Nixon helped out with six points.

Eagles 41, Cheetahs 39

After leading 20-10 at the half, Zion Academy watched as North Andros came within seven (32-25) at the end of the third before they went on to pull off the nail-biter. “It was good. It was a good experience. It was a hard fight,” said Zion Academy’s coach Wellington Smith. “We had a 10-point lead for three quarters and we got run down, but we were able to win by two points. We hope to get better and better as the tournament goes on and hopefully we can soar from height to height.”

Asher Scavella scored a game high 12 points with eight rebounds to lead the way for the Eagles. Travis Stuart had nine points and five rebounds and Recarno Nixon added eight points. Twin brothers Tereako and Tereak Moss provided a 1-2 punch for North Andros with 11 and 10 points respectively.

• Results of the three games played in the late session Tuesday night are as follows:

Cherubims 92, Clement Howell 22

In the most lopsided and highest scoring game so far, Teleos Christian Academy got a balanced scoring attack as Bertram Minns led the way with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Gregory Seymour also had 16 points with 10 rebounds, Dan Murray had 14 points, Shakeil Brown had 13 points and Arlington Brown had 12 points and eight rebounds. Edelin Pierre scored eight points and Michel Jethro added six points with six rebounds in a losing effort.

Cobras 58, Pacers 32

The GSSSA runners-up CC Sweeting got 14 points with six steals from high jumper Ken Mullings and Corey Sands had 12 points, while Jamaal Simon added eight points in the win. Richard Kemp had 14 points with nine rebounds and Deangelo Bain added seven points.

Mystic Marlins 34, Stingrays 32

Dame Doris Johnson got 15 points and eight rebounds from Dwayne Dormeus and Lennix Moss had seven points and six rebounds in the closely contested match-up.

Janeldo Joseph scored a game high 16 points with six rebounds and four steals for CV Bethel. Martin Conliffe and Adam Johnson both added six points.

Today’s revised schedule

2pm - Charles W Saunders Cougars vs Westminster Diplomats

3pm - Temple Christian Suns vs British West Indies

4pm - Mangrove Cay vs winner game 8

7pm - CI Gibson Rattlers vs Central Eleuthera Explorers

8pm - Winner game 25 vs Agape

9pm - Loser game 29 vs Loser game 17