The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

COACHES Kevin Clarke and Kevin ‘KJ’ Johnson said they both had no regrets their Tabernacle Baptist Falcons and CI Gibson Rattlers skipped this year’s Hugh Campbell Basketball Classic to participate in the Dynasty Tip-Off Classic.

Over the weekend in Orlando, Florida, the Falcons and Rattlers both participated in the Varsity Boys division. The Falcons finished 1-1 in Pool A and the Rattlers were 0-2 in Pool B.

The Falcons went on to lose 84-70 to the Orlando Mets in the gold championship game, the Rattlers ended up playing for the silver championship where they won the title with a 62-53 decision over the Homestead Legacy.

“The tournament was excellent. Stiff, keen competition every game. They went right down to the wire,” Clarke said.

“We just didn’t have enough legs in the final. The Orlando Mets had a five-star recruit, who has already gotten about 11 major division one college offers.

“So it was great competition for the boys. we ended up losing by about nine in the championship game. But overall it was a great experience for the boys.

“We made some great connections and moving forward, we have the potential to get some scholarships. I couldn’t ask for a better tournament to go to.”

While the Falcons won back-to-back titles in 2017 and ‘18 for their eighth overall, the most in the history of Hugh Campbell, Clarke said his only regret was that they had two seniors on their team who would have participated in the local tournament for the final time.

“The Hugh Campbell is just one tournament. It has its stage because it’s been in existence for a long time,” he pointed out. “But it’s not the only tournament that you can go to around that time.

“When you have kids and their parents looking up in your face at the end of the year about possibly going off to school to further your education, the Hugh Campbell isn’t going to help with that.”

As a former player who won the title in 1995 and then went on to coach the Falcons to back-to-back titles in 2017 and ‘18, Clarke said in his 19 years of coaching, he has never seen any college colleges in attendance scouting the players.

Isiah Brennen, Jaden Pinder and Labron Wilson were all named to the first team All-Tournament selection.

In another week or two, Clarke said his Falcons will participate in another tournament overall before they get ready for the National High School Basketball Championships.

“We will be ready for the Nationals. You can go on record and say that you have to beat Tabernacle to win the nationals,” he said. “Right now, Tabernacle is playing the best basketball we’ve played all year.

“We are clicking. I just want the boys to continue that rhythm. That is why we have decided to go away again. With the help of some sponsors and the parents, we will go away one more time and then we will be ready for the Nationals.”

For Johnson, it was all about the exposure for his players, even though only nine members were able to make the trip.

“We were able to compete. The competition was very stiff. We played against five players who are ranked in the top 15 in the state of Florida. One of the players we played was ranked as number three in Florida. At least 15-16 colleges are recruiting him.

“The level of competition was very high. Our boys competed. It was a very high level. There were three different brackets in terms of competition.

“We lost our first two games, but we won the rest of our games to go to the silver medal championship. We beat a team that had the number 14th ranked player in Florida.”

Johnson, whose Rattlers last won the Hugh Campbell tournament in 2014 for the fifth time, said he didn’t have any regrets not participating in the prestigious local tournament.

“I definitely wanted to take my boys so they could be seen,” he said. “I’m happy that I did because Saheed (Sanusi), Jaden (Strachan), Fredrick King, and Charles Joseph were able to be seen by college coaches and they are very excited about CI Gibson basketball and how hard we played.

“A lot of them have some concerns about the big men’s skill set, but they were very surprised at how young they are.

“But they love the effort and how hard we played the game.

“The trip was great and I’m glad that we travelled to expose these guys.”

Chad Smith was named the most valuable player of their championship game, while Sanusi, Strachan and King were all named to the All-Tournament team.