The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

AFTER almost two years since they won the prestigious Hugh Campbell Basketball Classic, the Sunland Lutheran Stingrays returned to action over the weekend by winning the senior boys’ division of the Island Luck Cares Foundation High School Basketball Tournament.

The Stingrays, coached by Jay Philippe, emerged as the champions with a 60-53 decision over the Tabernacle Falcons, coached by Kevin Clarke. Tianno Roberts had a game high 15 points in the win, while Alex Minus had 11 in the loss.

The tournament, organised by the Grand Bahama Secondary Schools Sports Association, also featured a junior boys’ division with the Falcons securing a 48-33 triumph over the Stingrays as most valuable player Aiden Miller produced a game high 17 in the win. Daelyn Delancy had 15 in the loss.

Philippe, who juggles his time as a coach and sportscaster at ZNS, said he’s so proud of the achievement of his Stingrays, considering the fact that they had two weeks to prepare for the tournament.

“This is a totally new team. The last time we played was 20 months ago when we won the Hugh Campbell Basketball Tournament,” he said. “To come back 20 months later with a new team that only featured four guys returning from the previous team, just speaks about our structure. I’m so proud of those guys.”

Philippe said their coaching staff, including Marco Cooper and team manager Bonnie Basden, spent the past two weeks with 14 days straight in training in preparation for the tournament.

The tournament also served as a tune-up for Sunland as they prepare to leave Grand Bahama on December 16 to compete in three different tournaments over two weeks, as well as visit some of the colleges such as Philippe’s alma mater at Webb University before they return home on January 3.

As a part of their celebrations, the Stingrays attended church at the St John’s Jubilee Cathedral where the senior pastor is Bishop Godfrey Williams.

During the service, an offering was raised to assist the Stingers with their trip.

At the end of the tournament, MVP D’Angelo Parker, Tianno Roberts and Donneil Charles from Sunland Lutheran and Jadyn Pinder and Jared Hall from Tabernacle were named to the senior boys’ All-Tournament team.

Named to the junior boys’ All- Tournament team were Noah Bain, Aiden Miller and Joshua Williams from Tabernacle and Marco Carey and Dario Mills from Sunland Lutheran.

D’Angelo Parker of the Stingrays and Joshua Williams of the Falcons were named the senior and junior boys’ defensive players of the game respectively.

Philippe praised the organisers for putting on a splendid tournament. “Hopefully this can be the blueprint to use throughout the Bahamas,” he said.

“The organisers did a tremendous job in ensuring that all of the protocols and safety measures were put in place,” he said.

“I think it’s a good sign for sports in general in the country and high school basketball in particular, to ensure that we were as safe as can be.”

Norris Bain, whose committee consisted of Ossie ‘the Insider’ Simmons, Ivan Butler and Charlie ‘Softly’ Robins, was content with the support they received from the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture, the Ministry of Education and IL Cares Foundation, in making the tournament a success.

“We were able to sit down with the ministries to put in some good protocols in order to pull the event off,” Bain said. “The event went really well. Everyone was really excited about it. It went very well. It was only four days, but it was very good.”

While the first three days were designed especially for the participating teams and their school personnel, organisers opened the door on championship day on Saturday to accommodate a specific number of fans from their schools.

Mario Bowleg, Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture, was on hand for the tournament and he too lauded the organisers for a job done well and is hoping that the same effort can be duplicated in New Providence for similar events to get back on the drawing board.