The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

THE Manhattan College Jaspers were hoping to return home to Riverdale, New York, with a perfect run through the Bahamas Basketball Federation’s 5th annual BTC Summer of Thunder Classic in the Bahamas.

But the Commonwealth Bank Giants ruined their trip by stunning the Jaspers 88-82 at the Kendal Isaacs Gymnasium on Saturday night.

The victory came after Manhattan College opened their three-game series with a 116-72 rout over the PJ Stingers on Friday and after the Jaspers clobbered the New Providence All-Stars 103-56 on Sunday.

Manhattan College began the month-long tournament that features visiting division one men’s basketball schools from the United States against local teams from New Providence and Grand Bahama.

“We came down here and got some good competition,” said Steve Masiello, who is entering his third season as the Jaspsers head coach. “We got a chance to work out some things as a basketball team and so I thought we came away with some good results.”

All except their match-up against the Giants.

“It’s always good to bounce back and show your strength as a team,” he said. “But we played without three of our best players. Not taking anything away from them, they played hard and they came away with a good win. But it was a great experience for us.”

No doubt, Commonwealth Bank was more in celebrity mode as they became the first team from the Bahamas to beat one of the visiting teams since the inception of the tournament.

“It’s wonderful that we can finally get a win,” said Giants’ coach Perry Thompson. “We sat down and decided that we didn’t want to go through this series without getting a victory. So we came out here and looked at the team (when they played the Stingers) and we decided to go with the crew who sustained us more defensively and that paid off for us.”

Thompson got some extra help with some new players in his line-up, including Eugene Bain and Jermaine Storr. But it was two of the returning players, Ricardo Pierre and Gamaliel Rose, who stepped it up big time.

“This team was a pretty good team, so we had to play big on defense,” Rose said. “We had to get ready for this. Coach told us that they came here last night (Friday) to watch them and he was confident that we could beat them. We just had to go out and prove that we could do it.”

Here’s a summary

of the three games

played so far:

Jaspers 116, Stingers 72

This one was over from the first half as Manhattan College took a 23-19 lead after the first quarter and extended it to 52-31 at the mid-point. The Jaspers pushed ahead 95-55 at the end of the third and they coasted in the fourth. Forward Shane Richards led Manhattan’s attack with a game high 19 points. Both swingmen George Beamon and guard Donovan Kates had 18 and forward Emmy Andijar added 13 points.

In a losing effort, forward Roosevelt Whylly and guard Jackson Jacob both had 11 points. Shantino Morley and Kevin Hinsey contributed 10 apiece.

Giants 88, Jaspers 82

Forward Eugene Bain pumped in a game high 24 points, while sharp shooter Ricardo Pierre connected on 13 points in the fourth quarter, finishing with 20. Gamaliel Rose had 17, including 10 in the third and Jermaine Storr made his presence felt with 12.

Commonwealth Bank trailed 50-36 at the half on Saturday, but they turned things around in the second half, going on a 22-8 rampage in the third for a 58-58 tie. The fourth quarter was the difference with the Giants using a 29-24 spurt to take the win.

Mike Alvarado scored 17 to pace the Jaspers. Rhamel Brown had 11 points and Emmy Andijar chipped in with 10.

Jaspers 103, All-Stars 56

Shane Richards lit up the nets from behind the three-point arch, connecting on three three-pointers in both the third and fourth quarter to finish with a game high 22 points. Rhamel Brown had 16 points and 11 rebounds, Mike Alvarado had 14 points and George Beamon added 12.

Manhattan College took a 25-15 lead after the first quarter, extending it to 45-31 at the half. They went on a 41-12 spurt in the third to extend their margin to 66-43 at the end of the final break. The All-Stars had their best showing with a 27-17 margin in the fourth, but it was too late.

Gabi Laurent had 21 points with 12 rebounds, Able Joseph had 18 points and Bernard Bonamy chipped in with 15.

NOTES: When play resumes (tonight) after taking a break for the holiday, Maryland University Terps, featuring Shaquille Cleare from North Andros, slated to play Bahamas All-Stars at 7pm.

Then at 9pm, the Auburn University Tigers, alma mater to a number of track and field athletes, set to square off against the Real Deal Shockers.

The schedule for

the rest of the week:

Wednesday

7pm - Maryland University

vs Commonwealth

Bank Giants

Thursday

7pm - Auburn University

vs Bahamas All-Stars

9pm - Hampton University

vs Mail Boat Cybots

Friday

11am - Maryland vs

Grand Bahama All-Stars

7pm - Hampton University

vs New Providence

All-Stars

Saturday

4pm - Hampton University vs Street Legends All-Stars

7pm - South Carolina State University vs Grand Bahama All-Stars

Sunday

4pm - South Carolina State University vs PJ’s Stingers