The Tribune

The inaugural Hooping by the Park Basketball Tournament, held over the Emancipation holiday weekend at Freedom Park in Fox Hill, was termed a tremendous success by organiser Jabari Wilmott.

In addition to the exciting games played over the four days, Wilmott also honoured coach Stanford ‘Toad’ Davis and the late players Reuben ‘Cheetah’ Knowles, Reginald ‘Bobby Bird’ Demeritte and Roberto ‘Robbie’ McKinney for their contribution to basketball in the community.

Wilmott thanked his committee that included Karon Pratt, Brent Stubbs, Shawn Bastian, Christian Wilmore, Tunde Davis and Tonya Chea, Neville Taylor, also known as ‘the Voice’, Barry Wilmott, the Fox Hill Festival Committee, MP Shonel Ferguson, the table officials and basketball referees for helping to make the event a success.

The tournament was sponsored by Rubis Bahamas, Price Waterhouse Coopers, Barry Ramsey of Impact Images, Caribbean Bottling Company Limited, Ministry of Sports, Original Hot Patties, Dwight Glinton, KB Photography and numerous close family and friends

Here’s a summary of the games played:

Under-16 division

SM Elites 54, Ballers Elite 39: Jayden Strachan was named the most valuable player after he scored a game high 15 points for the SM Elites, coached by Sanchez Moss, who went undefeated in the tournament.

Garreth Edgecombe helped out with eight, Emanuel Alexander and Christian Sturrup both had six, while Saheed Sanusi chipped in with five.

In a losing effort for Ballers Elite, B Pierre scored 14 points and D McIntosh added 10.

SM Elites opened a 13-6 lead at the end of the first quarter and went up 26-14 at the half. They coasted to a 38-30 margin at the end of the third and never trailed in the fourth.

Under-19 division

Eagles Nest 84, Red Barons 63: After losing their only game during the double elimination process to the Red Barons, the Eagles Nest came back with vengeance in the final as Tyrell Butler earned the MVP, scoring 19 points, to lead a potent scoring attack for coach Sterling Pratt.

Dominic Bridgewater had a game high 23 points, Troy Tremley had 12 and Kirk Farrington finished with 13.

For the Red Barons, Saheed Sanusi poured in a game high 26 points; Jayden Strachan had 15 and Andre Rolle scored nine.

After opening a 23-17 margin in the first quarter, the Eagles Nest went up 43-33 at the half and 64-49 at the of the third. They were unchallenged in the fourth.

Men’s division

Rocket Launchers 65, Monsters 63 in overtime: With a cash prize instead of trophies on the line, Pocket Launchers, coached by Jermaine Leadon, also got revenge for their only loss in the tournament to the Monsters to cart off the title – with Patrick Leadon scoring 23 points to secure the MVP.

Latrel Hinsey had 22 points, Graylen Fraser had five and Leonard McPhee four to help out.

Lerecus Armbrister also had 23 to pace the Monsters, who also got 18 from DeVontee Gibson.

The Monsters led 10-8 at the end of the first quarter, but the Pocket Launchers went up 22-17 at the half. The Pocket Launchers stayed up 35-34 going into the fourth quarter. But at the end of regulation, the Monsters came back to force a 59-59 tie for the extra three minutes in overtime. The Pocket Launchers went on a 6-4 spurt to pull off the hard fought victory.

Special contests

On Sunday night, there was a three-point shooting contest that was won by Lerecus Armbrister and, in the dunk contest, DeVontee Gibson emerged as the champion.

Wilmott indicated that he’s looking forward to making the tournament an annual event during the Emancipation and Fox Hill Day festivities in August.