The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

THE CI Gibson Rattlers held off another challenge from the Dame Doris Johnson Mystic Marlins to add the prestigious Hugh Campbell Basketball Classic title to the Government Secondary Schools Sports Association and Providence Basketball Tournament crowns they won this year.

The Rattlers, coached by Kevin ‘KJ’ Johnson, pulled of a 61-58 victory over Johnson’s former player turned first year coach Denycko Bowles, with the Mystic Marlins, to claim their fifth national title and their first since 2006.

It came two weeks before CI Gibson nipped Dame Doris Johnson 68-65 to secure the GSSSA title at the KGLI Gym. In December, the Rattlers began their quest to win the two top titles this year by knocking off Doris Johnson to secure the title in their Providence Basketball Tournament at the CI Gibson Gymnasium.

Now, it’s time for the triple celebrations.

“I have a group of disciplined young men who really were determined to win and I’m very happy for them,” said Herbert Oembler, the principal at CI Gibson. “We got GSSSA, now we have Hugh Campbell, so it’s really a great feeling. We have not determined what we will do, but we have to put together a big celebration.”

Now just one victory shy of matching Grand Bahama’s Norris Bain of the Tabernacle Baptist Academy Falcons for the most wins in the history of the tournament, coach Johnson said he never underestimated his Rattlers, nor did he take the Mystic Marlins for granted.

“I knew they were going to make a run. They’re a very tough team. They never give up,” said Johnson. “We were mentally tough to hold them off to win the game.”

It wasn’t easy for CI Gibson, who blew a 17-point lead in the third quarter and 14 in the fourth.

“I don’t know what happened. We just couldn’t get the ball in the hole,” Johnson said. “We saw the momentum switched and they just kept going. But good teams do that. I told our guys to just stay focus and we did that. Thank God they turned the ball over in the end and we won it.”

After giving their players the opportunity to celebrate their double feat, Johnson said it will be back in the gym, getting his team ready to duplicate it again in 2015.

In the meantime, the Rattlers players are all looking forward to enjoying their success.

“We didn’t hold our composure, but in the end we pulled it off,” said Shakwon Lewis, the most valuable player who finished with 10 points, five steals and four assists despite suffering a nose bleed during the second half. “We were just impatient. But once we relaxed, we were able to pull it off.”

And having been named the MVP, Lewis said he attributes it to the coaching staff and his team-mates who believed in him as he posted the most assists and was one of the 15 players, along with Quincey Poitier, selected to the All-Tournament team.

Shamir Rolle, the starting centre who had nine points with seven rebounds and six block shots, said it’s a great feeling to be the double champions.

“All year long we were working for one goal and one goal alone,” said Rolle, who made a clutch turnover in the winding seconds that would have given the Mystic Marlins a chance to tie the score and force an overtime. “We just kept to the game plan and also kept our composure.

“Our coaching staff told us to just keep playing and keep our heads up high and keep pushing the ball at them.”

A disappointed Bowles said he really wanted to avenge their defeat in the GSSSA by taking the Hugh Campbell title from his mentor and former coach.

“My team came out and played. We didn’t execute down the stretch the way we wanted to, but we fought hard. The best team just came out on top again tonight,” Bowles said. “Our team just wasn’t disciplined and that really caused us the game by just three points.

“The guys know that once we are in the game, we don’t give up. We fight right to the end. But we were down, but we were not out. We just had to get some stops and stay in the fight. We did that, but in the end, we just couldn’t contain our composure and we threw away the ball a couple of times.”

Short of winning any of the titles in his first year coaching, Bowles said they just have to go back to the “drawing board” and try to get back to the level that they were at this year and hopefully they will have another chance to win the title that eluded them.

One of the key factors in the game was the fact that both Game Atilus and Deangelo Jolly got into foul trouble after they helped Doris Johnson to get off to a great start.

For Atilus, the loss will only inspire them for next year.

“We have a great team and we continued fighting in the third and fourth quarters,” said Atilus, who had 13 points and a game high 16 rebounds. “Next year we have to come back stronger. We have to keep working hard over the summer and go back at them. I know we can do it. I know we can do it. We will do it.”

And Jolly, just shy of a double-double with nine points and 10 rebounds, said they played their heart out on both ends of the court and they have nothing to be ashamed of.

“I’m proud of my team and what we did,” he said. “It’s very difficult for us because this is the third time in a row that we’ve lost to CI Gibson in a close game. It really hurts, but I’m very proud of my team.”