The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

PRESEASON basketball has tipped off in Canadian colleges and several Bahamian players are making an early season impact as their teams look to contend the 2016-17 season.

Leading the charge will be Jackson Jacob and his Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) Ooks as they look to repeat as Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association men’s national champions.

Jackson Jacob was named the MVP of last year’s tournament when he finished with 13 points in the finale and averaged 20 points per game throughout the tournament. He is one of three Bahamians on the Ooks roster alongside Samson Cleare and current redshirt Darrio Dean.

The 6’1” Jacob leads an undersized Ooks lineup that head coach Mike Connolly expects to contend once again.

“Jackson is the hardest-working player on our team, no doubt. Sometimes he’s in the gym working on his shot at 6:30 in the morning, and he keeps his schoolwork in order.” Connolly said. “[Our size]. It helped us to go small (and quick) because we were better defensively at the start of many games. When we needed to use our height, it was also valuable, but going small, a lot of the time, was right for us.”

Cleare will remain sidelined for the semester in order to qualify academically and will not be eligible until January.

“We will need to survive the first term and we’ll ask some players to fill a position that is not familiar to them. If we can stay in the playoff hunt in the first term, we’ll be in a position to make a run in the second half and, hopefully, play our best basketball in March when the ACAC championship tournament comes along,” Connolly said. “Our goal is simple: play defence, play together, play resilient basketball. If we do that, we will have an opportunity to make a run at an ACAC championship.”

Jacob has averaged 33 points per game in the preseason thus far as the Ooks have split their first two exhibition matchups.He scored 34 in 82-67 loss to UNBC Timberwolves and finished with 31 in 75-68 win over the Briercrest Clippers.

Also in other league’s, Trevone Grant made his official debut with the Acadia Axemen basketball in the programme’s inaugural preseason tournament.

Grant averaged 12.7 points, two steals and two assists per game over the course of the Axemen’s “Stu Aberdeen Challenge” which concluded yesterday in Wolfville, Nova Scotia.

Third year head coach Kevin Duffie, who said he is excited about the upcoming season and feels the team has all the necessary ingredients to be successful, leads the Axemen.

Duffie considers Grant one of the new additions to the Axemen roster that will have an immediate impact.

“He’s a veteran guy that’s going to come in and play some major minutes for us,” he said. “He will produce at both ends of the floor. He’s a really good player.”

At the time of his signing, Duffie foreshadowed what Grant brings to the programme.

“We are excited about the addition of Trevone to our roster. We believe he will impact our team immediately and has the physicality to defend guards in our league and he has the offensive skill set to add a scoring punch to our group,” he said. “He is a quality individual that will bring experience and leadership to our locker room.”

One of the most dynamic players in Bahamian high school basketball last season, Azaro Roker continues to adjust to collegiate ranks in Canada.

Roker was afforded an opportunity to take his game to the next level and play collegiately for the St Francis Xavier University X-Men this season.

Roker, who has played sparingly thus far through three exhibition games, is expected to be a welcomed addition for the X-Men, who finished with a 5-15 win/loss record last season.

The regular season for all three players begins the first weekend in November.