The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

The Royal Bahamas Police Force again proved their dominance in the Caribbean Law Enforcement Basketball Tournament.

For the fourth consecutive year, the RBPF took home the tournament title, this year with an 89-78 win over arch-rivals Royal Bahamas Defence Force.

Vernon Stubbs scored 23 points to lead the Police and was named the tournament’s most valuable player.

It was the second meeting between the two teams in the tournament, after the Police escaped with a three-point win in the opening day finale.

The second matchup wouldn’t be as close as the Police lead nearly wire to wire in the 11-point win.

After narrowly holding a slim lead in the second quarter, the Police opened the game in the final half to go ahead for good.

Senator Keith Bell, minister of state in the Ministry of National Security, was on hand following the game and made the trophy presentation to the teams.

The week-long tourney opened on Monday with a quartet of games and the opening ceremony.

Teams in this edition included the Turks and Caicos Police, Cayman Islands Police and Dominica.

The Bahamas Police also participated for a total of six teams, three from the Bahamas and three visiting.

Prior to that, there was a high school game and All-Star game between the East and the West.

Tournament organiser Paul Smith said he was excited about the possibility of the success of this year’s event.

“I think this year will be better than the previous years,” he said. “I think we will have more support because we did a better job of marketing. Plus, we planned the Legends game on Friday night with the veterans from the Police and the Defence Force against each other.”

As for the teams participating, Smith said although they only had three countries from the Caribbean represented this year, it was a real showdown with the local teams who were eager to keep the title here.

Additionally, the three-point shooting and slam dunk competition returned on Friday to accompany the Legends All-Stars game.