The Tribune

THE New Providence Basketball Association, which continued its regular season action on Wednesday night with a double header at the AF Adderley Gymnasium, will stage its version of the All-Star Classic tonight.

The NPBA’s All-Star Classic will begin at 6:30pm with brief opening ceremonies. That will be followed by the Skills Challenge where the top two players will advance to the final. Then, it’s the three-point shootout with each participant getting one minute to score the most shots with the top two going to the final. After that, it’s the slam dunk contest where each competitor will get three tries and again the top two advance to the final.

The All-Star game will then be contested and, during the half-time, the final of the three-point shootout, the dunk out and the coaches versus the executives three-point shootout will take place.

The All-Star team from the John Archer Division will be coached by Perry Thompson of the Commonwealth Bank Giants.

The players selected are: Michael Bain Jr and Tehran Cox of the Giants; Dylan Mangrove and Shakwon Lewis of the Athletico Bahamas; Cory Williams and Scottie Farrington of the Pyramid Food Rockets; Devon Ferguson and Randy Williams of the PJ’s Stingers; Rashad Williams and Devon Brennen of the Rythm Rebels; Romell Johnson of the Double R Services Limited Cleaners and Dario McKenzie of the Elites Basketball Club.

The All-Star team from the Vince Ferguson Division will be coached by Wayde Watson of the Mail Boat Cybots.

Their players are: Eugene Bain and Ernest Saunders of the Mail Boat Cybots; Gamaliel Rose and Kenneth Pratt of the Mr Ship It Freight Regulators; Kemsey Sylvestre and Justin Munroe of the College of the Bahamas Caribs; Tevin Hudson and Terrance Brown of the Pirates; Floyd Armbrister and Crosley Wilmore of the Real Deal Shockers; Corey Walkes of Everybody Wins Legends and Adorn Charlow of the Island Game Pros.

In Wednesday’s twinbill, the Commonwealth Bank Giants routed the Double R Services Cleaners 104-54, while the Island Game Pros stunned the Pyramid Food Rockets 104-81.

While the Giants’ starters took a back seat in their blowout, Garvin Lightbourne came off the bench and, in 19 minutes and 18 seconds, scored 16 points to lead a balanced attack. He was 5-for-11 from the field and 5-for-5 from the free throw line.

Jeffery Henfield had 14 points and three rebounds; David Taylor 13 points; Tehran Cox 12 points, six assists and five rebounds; Samuel Johnson 11 points and 11 rebounds and Quentin Demeritte 10 points, three rebounds and three assists.

Michael Bain Jr led the starters with eight points, seven rebounds, four assists and three steals.

Commonwealth Bank deposited a huge 31-9 lead at the end of the first quarter, they extended the margin to 58-26 at the half and they never looked back. They out-scored the Double R Service Limited 26-14 in the third and 20-14 in the fourth for the easy win.

Tamiko King came off the bench and matched the game high honours with 16 points and seven rebounds for the Cleaners. Starters Franz Smith Jr and Raynard Minus had 15 and 10 points respectively. Smith also had four rebounds.

Derrick Ferguson canned a game high 22 points with three rebounds and two assists in 26 minutes to lead Island Game in their victory. Ferguson was 8-for-20 from the field and 6-for-14 from the three-point line. He didn’t make a trip to the foul line.

Colton Albury scored 19 points with 12 rebounds; Mitch Bain had 16 points, seven rebounds and six assists; Kevin Wright Jr came off the bench and scored 15 points with three rebounds and two assists and Steven Miller contributed 14 points with five assists and four rebounds.

Island Game had a 25-18 lead at the end of the first quarter and took a 46-41 advantage at the half. But in the third, they went on a 33-23 tear that bolted their lead to 79-64. They had another 25-17 spurt in the fourth to stay ahead of Pyramid Food.

For the Rockets, Rashad Morley had 21 points and 13 rebounds; Scottie Farrington 20 points, 12 rebounds and four assists; Henderson Curry had 15 points, five rebounds and four assists and Rashad Saunders added 10 points with three rebounds and three assists.