The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

Jordan Prince Williams Falcons showed St Anne’s Blue Waves why they are the Bahamas Association of Independent Secondary Schools (BAISS) senior boys defending basketball champions.

Yesterday, the Falcons flew into the Blue Waves territory and used their high-flying attack to pull off a 68-52 victory to remain undefeated at 4-0. With the loss, the Blue Waves dropped to 3-2.

Although he came off the bench with the rest of the starters in the second quarter, Adam Johnson was a game changer on both ends of the court as he finished with 13 points, including a couple of slam dunks.

Frantwion Newton, who fouled out in the fourth quarter, led Jordan Prince Williams’ attack with 14 points. Sherman Martin contributed 11 and both Wilfred Ferguson and Koy Martin, who had three three-pointers, helped out with nine each.

“I was just trying to see what they were going to throw at us,” said Jordan Prince Williams’ coach Ernest Saunders. “I expected more. They are a good team and they put up a fight.”

Up 21-19 midway in the second quarter, Saunders brought in his starters and they “outhustled” the Blue Waves on a 7-3 spurt, which was sparked by Adam Johnson’s two-handed dunk, to go up 28-22 at the half and they never looked back. “We still have a little more work to do on the defensive and offensive ends and we will be where we need to be,” Saunders said.

“When I go back and look at the video, I will see where and what we need to work on and hopefully we will sort it out.”

For St Anne’s, Ashton Knowles, who had a strong start with eight points in the first quarter, paced the Blue Waves with a game high 17 points. Derryn Johnson had 11, Clayton Miller seven, Michael Wallace five and both Aaron Jordan and Malik Newbold added four each.

“I think we went away from what was working for us,” said St Anne’s first year coach Paul. “We didn’t press as much as we should have until the fourth quarter and that us back into the game.

“But if we had stuck with what was working for us in the past few games, it would have been a totally different game. Our defense was our biggest problem. We didn’t play defense like we are capable of doing and it caused us.”

Paul said they just simply have to “practice” and in their next game, they will be back.

“They are the defending champions,” he said. “We needed to play a team like that so that we can really see where we are and what we need to work on.”

After falling behind 9-4 in the first quarter, the Falcons got a lay-up from Norton and a jumper from Wilfred Ferguson to trim the deficit to 9-8. A pair of free throws from Mateo Taylor pushed them ahead 10-9.

That, however, was short lived as Ashton Knowles, who had five in the Bluewaves’ early run, completed a three-point play to put St Anne’s back up top 12-10. With 20 seconds, Aaron Jordan canned a three-pointer to extend their lead to 15-10 at the end of the period.

Wilfred Ferguson got two consecutive lay ups to bring the Falcons within one, 15-14.

But Duran Marshall missed an attempted dunk on a 2-on-1 play for St Anne’s. However, he got fouled and converted the pair of charity shots to push the Bluewaves to a 17-14 advantage.

That was when coach Saunders went to the bench and started to insert his starters, starting with Adam Johnson. Koy Martin was the benefactor as he got opened to his hit first three-pointer to tie the score at 17.

Once Adam Johnson got on the scoreboard with his jumper, the Falcons went up 21-19 and they went on to post the 28-22 lead at the half and they were never threatened.

With the combination of Frantwion Newton, Koy Martin, Adam Johnson, the Falcons extended their lead to 28-19 and they held on a 28-22 lead at the half after Clayton Miller canned a buzzer beating three-pointer for the Bluewaves.

In the third quarter, Jordan Prince Williams used a couple of spurts, the first to go up 38-25 and then 51-32 before they held on for a 55-34 margin as Frantwion Newton and Sherman Martin got a dunk and a jumper respectively as they went on a full court press.

St Anne’s lost Duran Marshall to five fouls early in the fourth as Frantwion Newbold hit both free throws for a 57-35 lead. Back to back layups from Adam Johnson and Frantwion Newton extended their lead to 61-39.

The Bluewaves managed to draw closer as Malik Newbold hit two free throws and Ashton Knowles canned a three-pointer for a 63-47 deficit.

But the Falcons stayed ahead as they continued to press the ball to hold on for the win.