The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

IT was mixed results for the visiting Grand Bahamian teams and the defending champions CC Sweeting Cobras as the 35th Hugh Campbell Basketball Classic swung into high gear at the AF Adderley Gymnasium on Wednesday night.

Playing in the wee hours of Thursday morning because of a delay in the action in an earlier game because of the rain seeping through the roof and onto the court, the Cobras fell victim to arch-rivals CI Gibson Rattlers 53-33.

The highly favored Tabernacle Falcons, one of the five teams out of Grand Bahama and the champions of their league, was taken to the limit before they held slim 38-37 win over the Doris Johnson Mystic Marlins.

However, the Grand Bahama championship runners-up St George’s Jaguars didn’t fear as well as they were beaten 53-49 by the GSSSA champions Anatol Rodgers Timberwolves, while last year’s runners-up Sunland Lutheran Stingers got by the CV Bethel Stingrays 54-40.

Also, the Gateway Academy Eagles flew past the Eight Mile Rock Blue Jays 41-40, the Jack Hayward Wildcats knocked off the Aquinas College Aces 44-21 and the Government High Magicmen routed the Nassau Christian Academy Crusaders 52-20.

• Here’s a summary of the

games played:

Rattlers 53, Cobras 33: In the much anticipated showdown between two of the dominating schools out of New Providence, the five-time tournament champions CI Gibson made this one look so easy.

They opened a 12-5 first quarter lead and extended it to 26-9 at the half. The defending champions CC Sweeting made a run in the second half, coming within 14 (36-22) at the end of the third. But CI Gibson surged again in the fourth.

Dominick Burnside poured in 16 points with 14 rebounds; Terrance Storr had 13 points; Deon’Ta Tinker had nine points, six rebounds and four assists and Asher Scavella chipped in with seven points, nine rebounds, three assists and two steals.

“CC Sweeting is a very talented, well coached team, so we had to come out with a game plan to really execute because I know they always apply pressure,” said Rattler’s coach Kevin ‘KJ’ Johnson.

“Once we did the small things, I knew that we would have been successful.”

Marco Beckford matched the game high honours with 16 points and six rebounds and four steals for the Cobras. Joshua Anderson and Christoff Munroe both added six.

Falcons 38, Mystic Marlins 37: Desmond Butler and came up big with a three-pointer and an offensive put back in the last minute as Tabernacle Baptist came from a 34-32 deficit to seal the win.

Butler ended up with nine points, six rebounds and three assists, while Alfredo Brown had 10 points, six steals, three rebounds and two steals to lead the Falcons. Shyone Kemp had eight points and eight rebounds and Franco Miller added just seven points with three steals.

“It was very tough. This is Hugh Campbell Basketball. You can’t underestimate anybody,” said Tabernacle Academy’s coach Kevin Clarke. “They did a very good job against us, but we are just trying to get into rhythm.

“Francis Miller hasn’t played with us for almost a month now, coming of an injury and you could see it out there. We didn’t really get any rhythm. If it wasn’t a couple turnovers here or there, we could have lost the game. But we are in tournament mood and we won to advance on.”

Troy Trembley had a game high 17 points with 12 rebounds in the loss. Chabiel Brown had nine points and Gailyn Young had eight points and six rebounds.

Timberwolves 53, Jaguars 49: Anatol Rodgers got their first real test after winning their first GSSSA title as they improved to 2-0 by holding of St George’s in one of the most exciting games of the night.

The Timberwolves were holding a comfortable 51-41 lead with 3:35 left in the fourth when officials halted play to try and contain the water that poured out of the roof.

When play resumed almost 30 minutes later, the Jaguars made a run, but Dominic Bridgewater got a steal and a lay-up at 1:30 to put the Timberwolves up for good, 53-47.

Bridgewater finished with 14 points, eight assists, seven rebounds and three steals. Devanno Whitfield had 13 points and seven rebounds; Devon Bonaby had six points and Kirklyn Farrington had five points and five rebounds.

“Defense is definitely going to be the key against these Freeport teams,” said Anatol’s coach Harcourt McCoy, who hopes that they can add the tournament title to the GSSSA crown.

“It’s a good thing our press was able to bring us back into the game. I can’t tell you how many free throws we missed. When you are playing at this level, you have to finish. You can’t take anything for granted.”

Mateo King had a game high 23 points to lead St George’s. Howard Hinzey had seven points, seven rebounds and four steals and Davonte Jennings had seven points, four rebounds, four assists and three steals.

Stingers 54, Stingrays 40: Sunland, using an effective trap defense, opened a 22-0 lead before Raymonte McDonald hit a jumper to get CV Bethel on the scoreboard with just 7.3 seconds left in the first quarter.

The Stingers pushed the lead to 40-12 at the half and their bench took over in the second half as they held on 51-28 at the end of the third and stayed ahead, despite a late flurry by the Stingrays in the fourth.

Howard Burrows scored 14 points with three rebounds and three steals; Brandon Meadows had nine points, six rebounds and four steals; Ethan Munroe had nine points and Javares McIntosh had eight points, four rebounds and three assists in the win.

“I think we played well in spurts. My eight man rotation played well, so I have to be proud of winning the game,” said Sunland’s coach Jay Ferlippe. “Coming into Nassau to play in this tournament is never easy. 

“But we feel we have the best team in this tournament and although we fell short in Grand Bahama in the semifinal, we have some unfinished business after losing in the final last year.”

McDonald finished with a game high 17 points, four steals and three rebounds for the losers. Eric Cox added eight points.

Magicmen 52, Crusaders 20: This one wasn’t even close as Government High opened a 13-3 first quarter lead and they were never challenged by Nassau Christian Academy.

Pedro Knowles led a balanced scoring attack with a game high 14 points, five steals, three rebounds and two assists. Mario Nairn had 11 points and five rebounds; Samuel Gibson had eight points, four rebounds and four assists; Justin Larose had eight points and Terrion Kemp added six points and 12 rebounds.

“I feel pretty good, but we’re not really focusing on the things that win basketball, enough to execute on half court offense and defense,” said Magicmen’s coach Theodore Hanna, who returned to the bench after he got ejected in their 57-55 win over the St John’s Giants on Monday.

“We’re also missing too many free throws. I don’t care if we have 100. The game could change in the second half. So we just have to focus more and take care of details. We’ve been working hard all season and I think once we get our feet under us, we will be okay.”

For NCA, who trailed 25-9 at the half, Elvardo Glinton had six points with four rebounds; Dwayne Lewis had five points and eight rebounds and Kent Wood also had five points and three rebounds.

Wildcats 44, Aces 21: After taking a 13-4 lead at the end of the first quarter, Jack Hayward watched as Aquinas cut the deficit to 22-11 at the half, but they opened a 34-14 margin at the end of the third and coasted to victory in the fourth.

Trimaine Ferguson scored nine points with seven rebounds to lead the way. Clevon Clarke had seven points and four rebounds and Sashawn Huyler, Ackeem Hanna and Sorrell Duncombe all chipped in with five points.

Kriston Clarke scored seven points, Cleveland Goodard had five and Rodriquez Gittens four in a losing effort.

Eagles 41, Bluejays 40: In a come-from-behind effort, Gateway Academy went on a 15-6 run in the fourth to erase a 30-26 deficit at the end of the third. Eight Mile Rock had controlled the game, leading 17-8 at the end of the first quarter and 23-17 at the half.

Bradley Lightbourne scored a game high 20 points with 10 rebounds, seven steals and four assists to lead the Eagles. Densel Jones had 12 points, four rebounds and four steals and Cavon Dames added six points.

In a losing effort, Delano Dean had 18 points and six rebounds; Devon Williams had eight points and Jordan Smith had six points and six rebounds with three steals.

All of the winners will be back in the spotlight today as the action get underweay at 9 am.

Rattlers bite up Cobras 53-33, Falcons nip Mystic Marlins 38-37