The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

The New Providence Basketball Association got its best-of-seven championship series started with the Giants winning the double header at the AF Adderley Gymnasium.

In the men’ division II opener on Wednesday night, the pennant winning Your Essential Store Giants held off the two-time defending champions Breezes High Flyers 98-95.

And, in the feature division one contest, the defending champions Commonwealth Bank Giants, in their quest to remain undefeated, routed last year’s runners-up PJ’s Stingers 87-63.

Both series are scheduled to continue tonight with game two, starting at 8pm. The league will take a break and resume play on Monday with game three.

The two winners will go on to represent the NPBA at the Bahamas Basketball Federation’s National Round Robin in Bimini April 11-13.

Giants 98,

High Flyers 95

Randon Swaby and Cameron Strachan both converted just the first of their two free throws in the final 18 seconds to help lift Your Essential Store to their game one victory.

Swaby’s charity shot pushed the Giants up three (97-94) and Strachan’s foul shot with 14 seconds left gave them a four-point, 98-94 advantage.

Jeremy Neely had a chance twice to at least tie the score when he was fouled and hit one of his two foul shots with 13 seconds on the clock and missed both attempts with only five seconds as Breezes fell short.

“We lost focus on defence and when we didn’t play the pressure, they caught us up,” Swaby said. “But we were able to hold them down and pick up our intensity and kept attacking.”

Down the stretch when it counted the most, the Giants started to play like they did at the beginning of the game when they opened a 26-22 first quarter lead and held a 50-39 margin at the half. The High Flyers, using a 28-23 spurt in the third, managed to trim the deficit to 73-67 at the end of the third. They made a couple of runs in the fourth, but it wasn’t enough to get them over the hump.

“The first three quarters, our fellows didn’t come to play basketball,” said a disappointed High Flyers coach Donnie Culmer. “When your team-mate tells you something and you can’t take it, you can’t win like that.

“We have to learn to play through adversity. We’re not supposed to be going down like that. We had too many unforced turnovers. It wasn’t like they beat us. We actually beat ourselves.”

Brandon Strachan canned 22 points with four rebounds, two assists and a steal before he fouled out late in the fourth. Michael Bethel also fouled out, but he contributed 21 points with six assists, five steals and three rebounds.

Adrian Thompson finished with 19 points and six rebounds. Cormardo Seymour had nine points, 10 rebounds, two assists and as many blocks and Cameron Strachan ended up with eight points and 10 rebounds.

Randon Swaby, coming off the bench, had eight points and six rebounds. Andrerias Black also got off the bench and added seven points with six rebounds.

For the High Flyers, Jeremy Neely worked inside for a game high 30 points, four assists and three rebounds and Devontee Gibson had 12 points and 12 rebounds with two steals.

Shantoin Pratt had 10 points, four assists and three rebounds and Dario Saunders also had 10 points with four rebounds and two steals and Dave Davis had nine points and seven rebounds before they all fouled out.

Brendon Stubbs came off the bench with nine points and nine rebounds and Justin Gardiner had eight points and 10 rebounds.

For game two, Culmer said his Breezes players must be prepared to play.

“They (Giants) shot the ball very well tonight (Wednesday). Their number 15 (Brandon Strachan) shot the ball very well,” he said. “If they continue that way, they can become the champions, which I seriously doubt.”

Swaby, however, said they will be out to prove that as a first year team in the league, they are a real championship team. “We have to bring the intensity and keep the pressure on them,” he projected.

Giants 87,

Stingers 63

Jackson Jacob came off the bench fired up, scoring 11-for-18 from the field, 1-for-2 from the three-point line and 5-for-6 from the foul line to lead Commonwealth Bank with 28 points in 28 minutes. He also had seven rebounds and two assists with a steal.

D’Shon Taylor had 15 points, five rebounds, four assists and four steals, Jeffrey Henfield came off the bench with 12 points, three rebounds and two steals, Tehran Cox had eight points and Michael Bain only scored six points with five assists, four rebounds and two steals.

Perry Thompson, head coach of the Giants, said both teams did an awesome job in pulling off their confident booster and the division one squad fed off the division II in stepping up their performance.

“We knew we have an advantage based on our legs against the Stingers, who may have some bigs, but they are slower,” Thompson said. “So we have to continue to put the full court pressure and trap and run the ball.”

Thompson said in a seven-game series, anything can happen, but as long as they continue to do what they are doing, they could pull off the series.

In a losing effort for PJ’s, coached by Lavardo Bowleg, Devon Ferguson scored 12 points with three rebounds and two steals and Eugene Bain came off the bench with 11 points and 10 rebounds.

Horris McKenzie also came off the bench with 11 points and five rebounds, Randy Williams added nine points and four rebounds and Salathiel Dean had seven points, nine rebounds and four assists.

In what started out as a defensive battle, the Giants took a slim 12-10 margin at the end of the first quarter. They turned up the heat to go up 36-26 at the half. Just before they extended their lead to 66-38 at the end of the third, the gym went into blackness.

When power resumed, the Stingers went on a 27-21 tear in the fourth, but it wasn’t enough to get them back into the game. Now they will have to carry that momentum that they finished off into game two tonight. 

Thompson, however, said both of their Giants clubs are hoping that they are successful as they will get a chance to travel for the first time to Bimini to participate in the Nationals.