The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

As the Providence Basketball Club’s 24th Yuletide Classic continued yesterday at the CI Gibson Gymnasium, the two senior boys teams from Grand Bahama took the spotlight. The St George’s Jaguars, one of the perennial teams to watch, held off the CI Gibson Rattlers B team for a 53-49 victory and the newly formed Blazers Elite Academy outlasted the Teleos Cherubims. During the night session, the junior teams were in the spotlight, but scores were not available up to press time last night.

Here’s a summary of the games played:

Jaguars 53, Rattlers B 49: In scoring seven straight points down the stretch to break a 46-46 tie in the final two minutes, St George’s held off CI Gibson B team for the win. Deryl Williams erupted for a game high 17 points, Bender Terminus added nine and Lean-der Hall finished with seven as the Jaguars got the win.

Michael Pierre had 13 and Charles Maynard added seven in a losing effort for the Rattlers’ B team.

“It’s a game we needed. We started the season kind of rough in Grand Bahama and so this tournament is helping us out,” said Calvin McIntosh, the assis-tant to head coach Darryl Sears.

“We are three quarters of a team right now so we needed a tight game like this. We know how to play, but we want them to learn how to win so when we get back to Freeport, we can contend for the title.”

Blazers 48, Cherubim 28: After playing a close first half, the Blaz-ers Elite took their game into another gear and pulled away from Teleos for their second con-secutive win in the tournament.

The Blazers Elite, who won their opener over the Nassau Christian Academy Crusaders on Wednesday night, got a game high 14 points from T’Kai Delancy. Martin Butler scored 10 points and K. Blaford added eight points in a losing effort.

“We started off real sloppy, maybe because we had different times for the game and the guys had not eaten their lunch,” said coach Dr Ray Evans.

“We just had to get some ener-giser in their system so that they could at least play. We could play a lot better, so hopefully you will get to see that as the tournament progresses.” Rattlers A 79, Crusaders 10: Gerard Rolle pumped in a game high 18 points, Zavion Lloyd had 13 and Dwayne Findley had 12 to lead a balanced scor-ing attack for CI Gibson A team.

Rufus Johnson and Jahmal Johnson had five and four respectively in a losing effort.

Cobras 50, Mystic Mar-lins 28: CC Sweeting continued to put up big numbers as Tavari Roker scored 11 points and both Donovan Samuels and Brandon Darville added four apiece.

Klye Wilson and Shelton Nelson scored eight and seven in a losing effort for Doris Johnson.

It was the first game played for the Mystic Mar-lins in the tournament and coach Kevon Spence said they are trying to regroup from last season.

“This is a new unit from last year, so we are trying to pick it up and get some building blocks as we move forward,” he said. “As we play more games, the team will develop more.”

Cougars 31, Cherubim 22: As they continued their wInning streak, Charles W. Saunders prevailed with their second win as Nakero Brown powered inside for 14 points.Trayvon Wright helped out with five.

After winning their open-ing game, Martino Butler scored a game high 15 as Teleos suffered their first loss.

“Our boys played tough and the e defense was pretty good,” said Cherubim’s coach Walter Charlton. “I could see fatigue getting to them as the game went on.

“We lacked a few of our big men, but we went with what we had and we did the best we could.”

Magicmen 37, Giants 31: In holding off St John’s down the stretch, Govern-ment High got their first win of the tournament as Jer-emiah Cadet came through with a game high 17 points. L Rolle added eight.

In a losing effort for Giants, coached by Dwayne Smith, Makelin Dar-ling scored 11 points and Marlon Armbrister chipped in with .

“I’m still upset with our performance. We haven’t practiced since school closed,” said GHS’s coach Elton Sherman. “The guys are still stuffed with ham and turkey.

“We’re still in the rebuild-ing stage. This is a young team. My team is averag-ing about 16 years. We are basically getting ready for next season. We didn’t close out like we should. But I’m happy to get the win.”

The tournament will con-tinue today at 9 am. The tournament will wrap up on Saturday when the two champions will be crowned in the junior and senior division.